THE  RUSSIANS 
AND  RUTHENIANS 
IN  AMERICA  . 

JEROME  DAVIS 


THE  RUSSIANS  AND 
RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

JEROME  DAVIS 


THE 

RUSSIANS  and  RUTHENIANS 
IN  AMERICA 

Bolsheviks  or  Brothers? 

BY 

JEROME  DAVIS 

ASSISTANT   PROFESSOR   IN    SOCIOLOGY    IN    DARTMOUTH    COLLEGE 


WITH    AN   INTRODUCTION    BY 

CHARLES  HATCH  SEARS 


NEW    XSJr   YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922, 
BY    GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 


PRINTED    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


TO 
MY  MOTHER 

WHOSE  LIFE  OF  SELF-FORGETTING  SERVICE 
HOLDS  THE  SECRET  WHICH  ALONE  WILL 
SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM  HEREIN  PRESENTED 


M179871 


INTRODUCTION 

The  New  Americans  Series  consists  of  studies  of 
the  following  racial  groups  together  with  a  study  of 
the  Eastern  Orthodox  churches : 

Albanian  and  Bulgarian,  Armenian  and  Assyrian- 
Chaldean,  Czecho-Slovak,  Greek,  Italian,  Jewish, 
Jugo-Slav  (Croatian,  Serbian,  Slovenian),  Magyar, 
Polish,  Eussian  and  Euthenian,  or  Ukrainian,  Span 
ish  (Spaniards)  and  Portuguese,  Syrian. 

These  studies,  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  In- 
terchurch  World  Movement,  were  undertaken  to 
show  in  brief  outline  the  social,  economic  and  re 
ligious  background,  European  or  Asiatic,  of  each 
group  and  to  present  the  experience — social,  eco 
nomic  and  religious — of  the  particular  group  in 
America,  with  special  reference  to  the  contact  of 
the  given  people  with  religious  institutions  in 
America. 

It  was  designed  that  the  studies  should  be  sympa 
thetic  but  critical. 

It  is  confidently  believed  that  this  series  will  help 
America  to  appreciate  and  appropriate  the  spiritual 
wealth  represented  by  the  vast  body  of  New  Ameri 
cans,  each  group  having  its  own  peculiar  heritage 
and  potentialities ;  and  will  lead  Christian  America, 
so  far  as  she  will  lead  them,  to  become  a  better  lover 
of  mankind. 

The  writer,  in  each  case,  is  a  kinsman  or  has  had 
direct  and  intimate  relationship  with  the  people,  or 
group  of  peoples,  presented.  First  hand  knowledge 
and  the  ability  to  study  and  write  from  a  deeply 
sympathetic  and  broadly  Christian  viewpoint  were 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

primary  conditions  in  the  selection  of  the  authors. 

The  author  of  the  study  of  the  Russians  and 
Euthenians  was  born  of  missionary  parents  in  Ja 
pan  and  is  a  Congregational  minister.  He  is  a 
fraduate  of  Oberlin  College  and  Union  Theological 
eminary  and  has  a  Master  of  Arts  degree  from 
Columbia  University  where  he  was  Gilder  Fellow 
in  1920-21.  During  the  war  he  was  secretary  to 
Sir  Wilfred  Grenfell  of  the  Labrador  Mission  and 
for  over  two  years  was  with  the  Young  Men's  Chris 
tian  Association  in  Russia.  He  speaks  and  reads 
Russian.  At  present  he  is  assistant  professor  of 
sociology  in  Dartmouth  College. 

These  manuscripts  are  published  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  with 
the  cooperative  aid  of  various  denominational 
boards,  through  the  Home  Missions  Council  of 
America. 

At  this  writing  arrangements  have  been  made  for 
the  publication  of  only  six  of  the  Series,  namely, 
Czecho-Slovak,  Greek,  Italian,  Magyar,  Polish  and 
Russian,  but  other  manuscripts  will  be  published  as 
soon  as  funds  or  advanced  orders  are  secured. 

A  patient  review  of  all  manuscripts,  together  with 
a  checking  up  of  facts  and  figures,  has  been  made  by 
the  Associate  Editor,  Dr.  Frederic  A.  Gould,  to 
whom  we  are  largely  indebted  for  statistical  and 
verbal  accuracy.  The  editor  is  responsible  for  the 
general  plan  and  scope  of  the  studies  and  for  ques 
tions  of  policy  in  the  execution  of  this  work. 

CHABLES  HATCH  SEARS. 


PREFACE 

The  great  outstanding  fact  which  has  been  forced 
upon  me  as  a  result  of  this  study  has  already  been 
expressed  by  Jane  Addams  for  the  immigrant  in 
general:  "We  still  have  no  method  by  which  to 
discover l  the  Eussians,  to  spiritualize,  to  under 
stand,  to  hold  intercourse  with  them  and  to  receive 
of  what  they  bring. " 

When  we  realize  that  the  total  number  of  foreign- 
born  in  the  United  States  from  all  the  Russian  em 
pire  in  1910  exceeded  that  from  any  other  country 
except  Germany2  and  that  in  the  one  year  1913, 
before  the  war  stopped  further  immigration,  there 
were  admitted  to  this  country  over  51,000  Eussians 
alone,  we  see  the  colossal  challenge  presented  to  us 
by  the  Eussians  and  Euthenians  within  our  own 
borders.  And  now,  according  to  varying  authori 
ties,  there  are  between  200,000  and  400,000  Eussians 
and  400,000  to  600,000  Ukrainians  in  the  United 
States. 

At  the  outset  let  us  be  clear  as  to  the  terms  we 
are  using.  By  Eussian,  as  used  in  this  study,  is 
meant  the  Great  Eussian,  inhabiting  Central  Eussia, 
the  White  Eussian,  living  between  Poland  and  Eus^ 
sia,  and  the  Little  Eussian,  from  what  was  formerly 
South  Eussia.  By  Euthenians  are  meant  those  Lit 
tle  Eussians  who  come  from  Galicia,  Bukowina,  and 
the  Carpathian  Mountains  in  Austria  Hungary. 
Strictly  speaking  racially,  all  the  Little  Eussians  or 
Ukrainians,  whether  from  Austria  or  Eussia,  belong 

1  The  italics  are  mine. 

2  Bulletin  of  IT.  S.  Census,  1910.     (The  estimate  includes  Finland 
and  dependencies  of  Eussia.) 

ix 


x  PREFACE 

together,  but  since  many  of  those  inhabiting  what 
was  formerly  a  part  of  Eussia  have  adopted  the 
Greek  Orthodox  religion  and  many  desire  union 
with  Russia,  while  the  Little  Russians  from  Austria 
Hungary  have  a  decidedly  nationalistic  feeling  and, 
for  the  most  part,  desire  independence,  it  has  seemed 
best  to  keep  this  classification.1  Both  Russians  and 
Ruthenians  belong  to  the  Eastern  Slavic  group. 

In  undertaking  a  problem  of  such  proportions  it 
has  obviously  been  impossible,  within  the  time  as- 
signed  me,  to  make  an  exhaustive  study.  Since  I  do 
not  speak  the  Ruthenian  language,  the  investigation 
of  Ruthenian  groups  has  necessarily  been  seriously 
handicapped.  I  was  forced  to  accept  secondary 
sources  of  information,  and  the  small  space  devoted 
to  the  Ruthenians  is  a  matter  of  regret  to  me.  My 
chief  emphasis  for  these  reasons  is  centered  on  the 
Russians. 

My  method  (as  regards  the  Russians,  and  as  far 
as  possible  for  the  Ruthenians)  has  been  as  follows : 
I  have  attempted  first  to  go  over  the  printed  mate 
rial  already  available  on  the  Russians  and  Ruthe 
nians  in  America.  A  partial  list  of  the  books,  pam 
phlets  and  government  reports  which  are  available 
is  to  be  found  appended  hereto.  This  list  further 
includes  books  on  a  variety  of  Russian  topics,  many 
of  which  may  not  have  been  consulted.  I  have  also 
incorporated  the  results  of  surveys  of  Russians  and 
immigrants  made  by  others,  such  as  Mr.  Cole  of  Chi 
cago,  the  Russian  Division  of  the  Foreign  Language 
Governmental  Information  Service  Bureau,  the 
Americanization  Study  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation, 
the  Inter-Racial  Council,  and  others. 

In  making  my  personal  investigations  my  plan 
was  to  visit  the  chief  city  of  each  district  of  the 
Russian  Greek  Orthodox  Church  in  America.  The 

aSee   the   IT.  S.    Immigration   Commission's  Dictionary   of 
1911.    I  have  not  kept  to  this  classification  entirely. 


PREFACE  xi 

cities  visited  were:  New  York;  Brooklyn;  Bridge 
port  and  Hartford,  Conn.;  Boston;  Philadelphia, 
Scranton,  Olyphant,  Coaldale,  Pittsburgh,  and  Do- 
nora,  in  Pennsylvania ;  Cleveland ;  Detroit ;  Chicago ; 
Minneapolis.  I  also  visited  Ansonia,  Waterbury, 
Seymour,  and  New  Haven,  Conn.;  Braddock  and 
McKees  Bocks,  Pa.;  Akron,  Ohio;  and  Denver.  In 
the  states  of  North  Dakota,  Washington  and  Cali 
fornia  I  had  special  investigations  made  among  the 
Russians.  In  each  community  visited  I  interviewed 
the  leaders  of  the  various  Eussian  groups.  These 
included  any  or  all  of  the  following:  (a)  The  Rus 
sian  priests,  (b)  the  Eussian  consul,  (c)  the  editor 
of  a  Eussian  paper,  (d)  Eussian  professional  men, 

(e)  Eussian  workmen  or  farmers.     I  also  visited 
where  possible:  (a)  workmen's  clubs,  (b)  Eussian 
Socialist   or   Communist   party  headquarters,    (c) 
typical  homes  of  Eussian  workmen  including  board 
ing  houses.     In  some  cases  I  conferred  with  the 
following  American  agencies  doing  work  for  Eus- 
sians  or  Euthenians:   (a)  American  churches,   (b) 
Americanization    Committees,     (c)     Industrial    or 
Americanization  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretaries,  (d)  Inter 
national  Institutes  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  (e)  banks, 

(f )  labor  union  officials,  (g)  employers  of  Eussian 
labor,    (h)    public   hospitals    where    Eussians    are 
treated,  (i)  U.  S.  Immigration  officers,  (j)  teachers 
or  experts  who  have  had  special  contacts  with  for 
eigners.    Besides  this  investigation  I  have  person 
ally  interviewed  Eussians  imprisoned  on  Ellis  Island 
and  in  Hartford.    Later  with  the  authorization  of 
the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Labor,  Mr.  Post,  I  talked 
with  over  one  hundred  other  Eussians  imprisoned 
by  our  Federal  government  in  Detroit  and  Pitts 
burgh. 

The  entire  subject  of  Eussians  and  Euthenians  in 
the  United  States  is  so  many-sided  that  it  is  only 
fair  to  say  that  the  present  treatment  is  not  satis- 


xii  PREFACE 

factory  even  to  me.  It  has  been  my  chief  concern 
to  look  for  the  facts  impartially,  and  simply  to  de 
scribe  conditions  as  I  found  them.  I  feel  confident 
that  anyone  who  makes  a  similar  investigation  in 
an  open-minded  way  will  be  forced  to  similar  con 
clusions. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  all  the  Eussian  priests  who 
so  generously  gave  of  their  time  in  answering  ques 
tions,  as  well  as  to  the  Eussian  Protestant  preachers 
and  workers.  I  also  want  to  thank  the  Foreign 
Language  Governmental  Information  Service  Bu 
reau,  now  affiliated  with  the  American  Eed  Cross, 
for  their  assistance.  The  Americanization  Study  of 
the  Carnegie  Foundation  kindly  gave  me  access  to 
much  of  their  material.  Most  of  all  I  wish  to  ac 
knowledge  the  help  of  those  numberless  plain  Eus 
sian  workmen  who  threw  open  their  little  tenement 
homes  in  so  warm-hearted  a  way  to  an  entire  stran 
ger.  To  my  wife,  who  spent  many  hours  in  helping 
to  complete  and  edit  my  manuscript,  I  am  deeply 
indebted.  J.  D. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     IMMIGRATION 19 

Migrations  in  the  United  States      ...  24 

II     ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 27 

III  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 39 

Social  Organizations  and  Forces       .      .      .  54 

IV  EDUCATIONAL  FORCES 58 

Forces  in  Assimilation 65 

V     RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS 75 

Forms  of  Religious  Realignments   ...  80 

Forms  of  Religious  Approach   ....  85 

Literature 88 

VI     SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS  ...  93 

Leadership  of  Foreign  Language  Churches  93 

Foreign  Language  Training  Schools     .      .  99 

VII     RELATIONS     WITH     THE     AMERICAN 

PEOPLE 104 

Relations    with    Governmental   Authorities  115 

VIII     WHAT  OF  IT? 127 

Recommendations 130 

xiii 


CONTENTS 

APPENDICES  PAQ* 

A  Bibliography 139 

B  Theological  Seminaries      ....  148 
C  Religious  Periodicals :  Russian  and  Ukrai 
nian       149 

INDEX       ,    ,,    M    *    M    M  151 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAOB 

The  Wife  of  a  "Russian  Red"  in  New  Jersey  ...  32 

Turning  the  Tables  on  Uncle  Sam 64 

Their  View  of  Americanization 64 

A  Russian  Poster  (Detroit,  1920) 65 

Sunday  Morning  in  a  Russian  Home 128 

The  Results  of  a  Raid  on  a  Russian  Club  by  Agents  of 

"Law  and  Order"  .                                                  .      .  128 


THE  RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS 
IN  AMERICA 


THE  RUSSIANS  AND 
RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Chapter  I 
IMMIGRATION 

European  background.— The  Bussian  and  the 
Ruthenian  come  from  a  dark  background  of  misery, 
poverty  and  ignorance.  They  come  from  a  land  but 
yesterday  under  the  heel  of  a  despot.  Education 
was  stifled,  the  peasants  were  compelled  to  live  un 
der  an  oppressive  burden  of  taxation  which  made 
poverty  almost  inevitable,  and  starvation  frequent. 
They  were  forced  into  the  maelstrom  of  wars  to  be 
come  cannon  fodder  over  issues  about  which  they 
cared  little,  or  not  at  all.  It  was  thus  in  the  recent 
World  War.  Russia  mobilized  sixteen  million  men ; 
they  were  snatched  from  their  homes,  to  which,  dur 
ing  three  years  of  war,  they  often  never  returned. 
They  served  at  a  wage  of  twenty-five  cents  a  month 
instead  of  the  thirty-three  dollars  which  our  soldiers 
received  in  France.  They  ate  out  of  a  common  dish- 
pan,  seven  soldiers  dipping  their  wooden  spoons 
into  the  same  bowl  for  their  noon-day  meal.  There 
was  little  or  no  welfare  work  done  for  them;  they 
died  like  flies.  At  home  their  wives  struggled  alone 
with  the  land,  accepting  without  a  murmur  whatever 

19 


20      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

carne  of  -sickness-  anct  death ;  frequently  they  were 
entirely  without  word  from  their  husbands  who 
might  be  alive  or  dead  for  all  they  knew.  Yet  in 
this  war  they  were  treated  better  than  in  any  of  the 
former  wars  by  which  Russia  has  been  afflicted. 
From  such  a  black  background  have  these  Ruthen- 
ians  and  Russians  come  to  us.  They  have  been  the 
victims  of  religious  intolerance,  class  inequality, 
economic  slavery,  political  despotism,  and  compul 
sory  ignorance.  A  fair  chance  at  the  good  things 
of  life  has  been  denied  them. 

Number  in  America.— We  do  not  know  exactly 
how  many  Russians  and  Ruthenians  there  are  in 
America.  Guesses  vary  by  the  hundred  thousand. 
The  reason  for  this  is  apparent  when  we  consider 
the  complexity  of  the  racial  problem  involved. 

Until  1898  the  United  States  Census  classified  all 
who  came  from  territory  controlled  by  the  Tsar's 
government  as  Russians.  From  that  year  on  Jews 
were  classified  separately,  as  were  also  the  Ruthen 
ians.  In  1910  all  who  called  their  native  language 
Russian  were  considered  Russians.  When  we  turn 
to  the  last  Russian  census  we  find  that  2%  of  the 
entire  European  Russian  population  were  Jews  who 
called  Russian  their  native  language.  Since  the 
great  majority  of  emigrants  to  America  from  Russia 
were  Jews,  undoubtedly  much  more  than  2%  were 
so  included  in  our  census.  According  to  the  census 
of  1910,  there  were  in  the  United  States  57,926  Rus 
sians,  but  13,781  were  Russians  from  Austria  and 
1,400  were  from  Hungary.  On  the  other  hand,  3,402 
persons  were  counted  as  Ruthenians  who  came  out 
of  Russia.  Therefore  in  all,  there  probably  were 
about  46,147  Russians  in  the  United  States  in  1910. 
From  July  1,  1910  to  June  30,  1919  there  has  been 
a  net  increase  of  75,695  Russians  over  those  depart 
ing.  This  would  make  a  total  now  in  the  United 


IMMIGRATION  21 

States  of  about  123,000.  This,  however,  does  not  in 
clude  the  children  who  have  been  born  on  American 
soil.1  The  Inter-Racial  Council  and  the  head  of  the 
New  York  City  work  for  foreigners  of  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  estimate  that  there  are  at  least  400,000  Russians 
in  America,  while  Dr.  Hourvich,  an  authority  on  im 
migration,  places  the  number  below  300,000.  Mr. 
E.  I.  Omelchenko  in  his  book,  The  Financial  and 
Economical  Condition  of  the  United  States  in 
1917,  estimates  that  up  to  July,  1917,  there  were 
192,920  Russians  in  this  country. 

When  we  turn  to  the  Ruthenians  we  find  the  fig 
ures  even  less  accurate,  since  many  Ruthenians  un 
doubtedly  were  formerly  classified  as  Russians  or 
Austrians.  From  the  year  1908,  however,  the  ex 
cess  of  immigration  over  emigration  in  the  United 
States  has  been  139,792.  The  Inter-Racial  Council 
now  estimates  that  there  are  500,000  Ukranians  in 
America,  although  it  states  that  many  Ukranian 
writers  place  the  figure  at  700,000.  The  Ukranian 
Alliance  of  America  estimates  that  there  are  at  least 
700,000  and  probably  many  more.  These  estimates 
also  vary  somewhat  because  of  a  difference  in  the 
racial  classifications. 

Distribution  and  location.— From  Table  I  below 
which  shows  the  distribution  of  the  total  Russian 
population  in  the  United  States  in  1910,  we  find  that 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Illinois 
are  the  states  having  the  largest  percentage  of  Rus 
sians.  New  York  had  34,612,  or  36.5%,  Pennsyl 
vania  24,558,  or  25.2%,  while  Illinois  had  only  4,036, 
and  New  Jersey  4,031.  According  to  the  1910  cen 
sus,  then,  five-eighths  of  all  the  Russians  were  in 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 

1  The  U.  S.  Census  of  1910  recorded  37,211  Eussians  of  foreign  or 
mixed  parentage  born  in  this  country,  and  only  25,131  foreign-born 
and  10,228  native-born  Ruthenians. 


522      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 


TABLE  1 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  KUSSIAN  POPULATION  IN  UNITED 
STATES  IN  1910 

New  York 34,612  Virginia   285 

Pennsylvania 24,558  Montana    269 

Illinois    4,036  Kansas   260 

New  Jersey 4,031  New  Hampshire 251 

Ohio   3,871  Ehode   Island    244 

Connecticut    3,013  South  Dakota   235 

Massachusetts    2,674  Louisiana   196 

North  Dakota 1,886  District  of   Columbia 189 

Maryland   1,875  Delaware    172 

California   1,828  Maine   170 

Minnesota  1,517  Mississippi 140 

Michigan    1,274  Kentucky    134 

Missouri   1,104  Vermont 117 

Wisconsin    956  Alabama Ill 

Washington    666  Wyoming    94 

Colorado 546  South  Carolina 87 

Iowa   511  Florida   64 

Indiana 504  Idaho   47 

Nebraska    462  Arkansas  45 

Oklahoma 389  Utah    39 

West  Virginia 376  North  Carolina 31 

Texas    325  Arizona  27 

Georgia   299  New    Mexico 22 

Tennessee 297  Nevada 12 

Oregon  289 

By  taking  the  intended  future  residence  of  all  the 
Eussians  who  were  admitted  from  1910-1919,  we  find 
that  the  proportion  going  to  the  various  states  fol 
lows  fairly  closely  on  the  percentage  of  those  already 
there.  During  the  war,  however,  there  was  a  shift 
ing  of  the  Russians  to  the  munitions  and  ship  build 
ing  centers,  so  that  undoubtedly  New  England  now 
has  a  higher  proportion  than  in  1910. 

M.  Vilchur  in  his  book  (in  the  Russian  language), 
The  Russians  in  America,  published  in  1918,  gives 
the  figures  for  the  location  of  Russians  substan 
tially  as  they  are  given  today  by  the  Inter-Ra 
cial  Council  from  whom  we  quote  as  follows :  ' '  New 
York  State  60,000;  Illinois  50,000;  Massachusetts 
40,000;  Pennsylvania  35,000;  Ohio  45,000;  Michigan 


IMMIGRATION  23 

36,000;  New  Jersey  35,000;  Connecticut  20,000.  The 
largest  Russian  colonies  are  to  be  found  in  the  fol 
lowing  cities:  New  York  25,000;  Detroit  17,000;  Chi 
cago  20,000;  San  Francisco  15,000;  Pittsburgh  14,- 
000;  Philadelphia  12,000;  Newark  10,000;  Jersey 
City  8,000;  Cleveland  5,000;  St.  Louis  5,000. " 

Table  II  below  gives  the  distribution  of  Ruthen- 
ians  in  the  United  States  in  1910.  It  shows  that 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  North 
Dakota  each  have  over  2.5%  of  the  total  number  of 
Ruthenians  in  the  United  States.  Pennsylvania 
alone,  according  to  the  census,  had  over  half  the 
number  of  Ruthenians  living  in  the  entire  country. 
A  list  of  the  states  in  the  order  of  the  total  Ruthen- 
ian  population  in  1910  follows : 


TABLE  II 

DISTRIBUTION   OF  RUTHENIAN  POPULATION   IN 
UNITED  STATES  IN  1910 

Pennsylvania 19,085      Montana 46 

New  York   4,611      New  Hampshire   45 

New  Jersey 4,477      South  Dakota   42 

Ohio    1,301     Colorado 38 

Illinois    1,299      Virginia    36 

North  Dakota 1,007      Maryland   36 

Connecticut    616      Texas    25 

Massachusetts 439      Tennessee  ^ 

Missouri   382      Mississippi     20 

Indiana    265      Oregon    19 

Rhode  Island 226      Florida 14 

Michigan    210      District  of   Columbia. ...          12 

Wisconsin    168      Wyoming    12 

Vermont     157      Nebraska    12 

West  Virginia   130      Oklahoma 9 

Delaware    121     Louisiana 

Kansas   109      Georgia   

California    92      Kentucky   

Washington   86      Maine    

Minnesota    80      North  Carolina 2 

Iowa   62 

The   Inter-Racial  Council   estimates   that  today 
"the  majority  of  Ukranians  are  in  New  Jersey, 


2*      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  and  Massachusetts.  There 
are  45,000  of  them  in  Chicago,  35,000  in  Pittsburgh, 
30,000  in  Cleveland,  30,000  in  Detroit,  25,000  in  Jer 
sey  City  and  20,000  in  New  York  City." 

MIGKATIONS  IN   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

Family  groups.— Among  both  the  Eussians  and 
the  Euthenians  the  family  groups  do  not  migrate 
from  place  to  place  as  easily  as  do  the  single  men. 
After  talking  with  over  one  hundred  families  in  the 
various  cities  I  have  visited,  I  have  found  that  85% 
of  them,  irrespective  of  the  length  of  their  stay  in 
the  United  States,  had  only  made  one  change  of 
residence  from  one  city  to  another.  A  family  usu 
ally  gravitates  toward  a  group  of  their  own  kind, 
where  they  rent  a  house  or  an  apartment  and  take 
in  boarders.  Hence  it  is  difficult  and  precarious  for 
them  to  move.  It  is  only  during  strike  conditions  or 
general  unemployment  that  they  take  the  risk.  If 
the  man  of  the  family  hears  of  better  work  else 
where,  he  will  sometimes  go  alone  to  test  it  out, 
sending  for  the  family  if  everything  proves  satis 
factory. 

Single  men.— The  Eussians  and  Euthenians  with 
out  families  in  this  country  move  much  more  fre 
quently.  Some  of  them  have  been  in  as  many  as 
eight  different  states  in  five  years,  but  this  is  un 
usual.  Often  they  do  not  stay  in  the  same  factory 
very  long.  The  work  becomes  monotonous  and  even 
if  they  can  get  nothing  easier,  they  leave  to  avoid 
the  dull  routine  of  the  lowest  grade  of  machine  and 
mine  work.  In  78  cases  of  Eussian  political  pris 
oners  in  Detroit  who  came  to  the  United  States 
within  the  last  14  years,  the  following  facts  are  sig 
nificant:  only  two  of  these  had  wives  in  this  coun 
try;  the  average  Eussian  changed  his  residence 
2.2  times  in  7  years;  12  out  of  the  78  cases,  or 


IMMIGRATION  25 

15%,  had  made  no  change  in  residence  since  com 
ing  to  America,  showing  that  the  tendency  of  the 
Eussian  is  to  remain  in  one  place  for  a  considerable 
period  if  economic  conditions  will  permit.  This  may 
not  be  typical  of  the  average  Russian,  but  it  would 
seem  that  Russians  who  have  been  arrested  or  who 
have  become  dissatisfied  through  failure  to  become 
adjusted  to  American  ways,  certainly  move  more 
often  than  those  who  have  become  so  adjusted.  On 
the  whole,  the  Ruthenians  probably  do  not  migrate 
as  often  as  the  Russians  for  they  have  been  in  this 
country  longer,  they  have  better  established  colo 
nies,  and  they  have  not  had  as  much  of  the  stigma 
of  Bolshevism  cast  upon  them. 

The  return  movement.— Taking  the  U.  S.  Immi 
gration  figures  from  1908-1914,  the  date  at  which 
the  European  war  broke  out,  we  find  that  35%  of 
the  number  of  Russians  and  16%  of  the  Ruthenians 
that  entered  the  United  States  did  not  remain.  Of 
course,  during  the  war  and  since,  the  emigration 
figures  have  no  significance  as  an  indication  of  the 
permanent  trend,  we  have  used  only  the  statistics 
up  to  the  war.  The  results  of  the  World  War,  espe 
cially  the  Bolshevik  cataclysm  and  the  uncertainty 
as  to  the  independence  of  the  Ukraine  which  would 
take  in  the  Ruthenians,  makes  it  extremely  prob 
lematical  to  predict  what  will  happen  in  the  next 
few  years  in  immigration  and  emigration.  Never 
theless  there  seems  to  be  a  general  agreement  among 
authorities  that  in  the  year  1920  fully  90%  of  the 
Russians  here  would  go  home  if  they  could.  Until 
the  spring  of  that  year  the  United  States  govern 
ment  refused  to  permit  Russians  to  return  to  Bol 
shevik  Russia.  Today  the  prohibition  has  been  re 
moved  but  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  travel  are 
enormous ;  still  the  exodus  has  already  begun.  All 
Russians  love  their  native  land.  They  have  not 
heard  from  their  relatives,  their  wives  and  families 


26      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

for  three  years,  a  revolution  has  occurred;  they 
want  to  see  for  themselves  what  has  happened.  In 
talking  to  Russian  workmen  all  over  America  in 
1920  I  met  only  a  mere  handful  who  did  not  say  they 
wished  to  return  at  once.  At  the  present  time  many 
do  not  have  the  funds  to  leave,  still  others  who  are 
more  cautious  desire  to  wait  until  they  hear  the  re 
ports  of  their  friends  concerning  Russia.  Neverthe 
less,  it  would  seem  probable  that  for  the  next  few 
years,  at  any  rate,  the  return  movement  to  Russia 
will  be  very  large.  This  fact  places  a  heavy  burden 
on  the  Christian  forces  of  America :  we  must  stamp 
the  minds  and  souls  of  these  outgoing  thousands 
with  the  beautiful  rather  than  the  ugly  side  of  our 
country. 

The  Ruthenians  do  not  have  the  same  compelling 
desire  to  leave  America,  although  thousands  of  them 
long  to  take  part  in  the  building  of  a  free  native  land 
at  home. 

A  most  strategic  policy,  it  seems  to  me,  for  each 
mission  board,  would  be  to  cooperate  with  their 
Home  Mission  staff  in  enlisting  Russian  leaders  in 
this  country.  Many  of  them,  if  really  Christian 
ized,  and  fully  trained  here  would  eventually  be 
native  missionaries  in  their  own  lands  spreading 
the  message  of  friendship  and  love. 


Chapter  II 
ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 

Means  of  livelihood.— Russians  and  Ruthenians 
are  largely  employed  in  the  lowest  forms  of  manual 
labor  throughout  the  mines  and  factories  of  Amer 
ica.  Definite  statistics  as  to  the  proportions  en 
gaged  in  the  various  occupations  at  the  present  time 
are  not  obtainable.  The  United  States  Immigration 
Commission,  however,  in  1909  made  a  study  of  507,- 
256  wage-earners  in  the  mines  and  manufacturing 
establishments  of  America  which  showed  1.6%  of 
the  male  and  0.9%  of  the  female  foreign-born 
workers  to  be  Russian.  In  other  words  there  were 
6,588  male  and  914  female  foreign-born  Russian 
workers  and  1,299  male  and  1,305  female  native- 
born  workers  of  Russian  parents.  These  constituted 
1.5%  of  the  total  number  of  workers  investigated. 

The  actual  number  of  Russians  found  in  each  in 
dustry  then  (1909)  is  still  indicative  of  where  the 
greatest  number  of  Russians  is  employed.  Rank 
ing  the  21  industries  according  to  the  number  of 
Russians  found  employed  in  them,  the  order  is  as- 
follows : 

Foreign  Native 

Industry                                                      Born  Born 

Coal  Mining  (Bituminous)    1853  176 

Iron  and  Steel   1372  150 

Slaughtering,  Meat  Packing 1010  324 

Clothing 536  555 

Wool  and  Worsted  Goods 527  52 

Cotton  Goods   471  87 

Sugar  Kefining    372  21 

Agricultural  Implements  and  Vehicles 307  250» 

27 


28      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Cigars  and  Tobacco   220  180 

Leather    207  106 

Glass     147  84 

Boots  and  Shoes 123  64 

Oil  Eefining    103  14 

Construction  Work   103  2 

Silk  Goods    70  489 

Iron,  Ore  Mining   24  6 

Collars,  Cuffs,  Shirts   22  4 

Furniture    18  27 

Copper  Mining,  Smelting 6  17 

Gloves    6  2 

Silk  Dyeing    5 

Although  these  statistics  record  over  twice  as 
many  foreign-born  as  native-born  Eussians,  it  is 
significant  that  in  the  easier  lines  of  work  the  second 
generation  predominate  away  out  of  proportion  to 
their  numbers.  Thus,  in  the  clothing  trade,  there 
are  more  native-  than  foreign-born  Russians.  It 
seems  to  be  true  in  general  that  the  second  genera 
tion  of  Eussians  leave  the  harder  lines  of  work  and 
shift  into  the  easier.  For  example,  in  coal  mining 
there  were  only  176,  in  iron  and  steel  150,  and  in 
sugar  refining  21,  whereas  clothing,  agricultural  im 
plements,  leather,  glass,  boots  and  shoes,  and  to 
bacco  showed  a  very  high  proportion  of  the  second 
generation. 

The  Immigration  Commission  found  only  901 
Euthenians  among  the  total  of  over  half  a  million 
workers  investigated.  The  largest  number  were  en 
gaged  in  coal  mining,  agricultural  implements,  cot 
ton  goods,  and  iron  and  steel. 

Another  investigation  conducted  by  the  U.  S.  Im 
migration  Commission  among  80,000  employees  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  in  the  Eocky  Mountain  States 
showed  that  the  greatest  number  of  Eussians  were 
in  the  following  industries  in  the  order  of  their  im 
portance  : *  steam  railway,  coal  mining,  lumber,  beet 
sugar  making,  canneries,  glass,  smelting,  cement, 
electric  railways,  all  industries  in  which  the  un- 

*  Abstract  of  Report  of  Commission,  Vol.  I,  Table  89,  p.  467. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  29 

skilled  workers  predominate.  The  Eussians  take  the 
job  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder.  They  have  the 
roughest  and  hardest  tasks ;  as  they  express  it  in 
their  native  language,  they  do  the  " black"  work.  In 
Eussia  the  majority  have  been  peasants  working  on 
the  land.  Further  statistics  from  the  Immigration 
Commission  show  that  in  the  cases  of  5,663  male 
workers  their  occupations  at  home  were  as  follows : 
68.3%  farm  labor;  12%  general  labor;  8.3%  manu 
facturing;  1.7%  a  trade;  and  9.7%  miscellaneous. 
If  we  take  the  occupations  of  Eussian  immigrants  to 
the  United  States  from  1910-1914  (the  outbreak  of 
the  World  War),  we  find  that  1,666  or  about  1%  were 
in  professional  occupations,  9,321  or  about  7%  were 
in  skilled  occupations,  while  76,294  or  about  58% 
were  farm  laborers  and  45,114  or  about  34%  were 
unskilled  laborers. 

On  reaching  America  nearly  all  these  Eussians 
accept  the  first  work  they  can  get,  for  they  are 
without  funds.  Jobs  are  always  to  be  had,  but  for 
the  ignorant  foreigner  who  cannot  speak  English 
they  are  naturally  of  the  hardest  and  lowest  types. 
The  mines  in  which  labor  is  most  arduous  are  open 
to  him;  the  fiery  furnaces  of  our  steel  mills  offer 
twelve  hours'  work  a  day,  seven  days  in  the  week; 
possibly  the  railroads  are  seeking  construction  gangs 
or  the  factories  will  welcome  feeders  for  high  speed 
machines.  Ordinarily  the  Eussian  cannot  secure 
work  on  a  farm,  for  the  Americans  prefer  Swedish 
workers.  He  has  no  capital  to  start  out  for  him 
self,  and  besides,  he  prefers  to  stay  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  his  own  kind.  There  are  some  excep 
tions  such  as  the  Eussian  Stundists,  or  Baptists, 
who  emigrated  to  Virginia  in  1894  and  started  a 
farm  colony.  Later  they  learned  from  a  German 
colonist  that  it  was  possible  to  get  160  acres  per 
settler  in  North  Dakota,  so  twenty-five  families  tried 
the  experiment.  By  1900  they  had  been  joined  by 


SO      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

400  other  families  and  today  North  Dakota  has  about 
10,000  sectarian  Eussians.  They  even  have  their 
own  little  towns,  one  of  which  is  named  Kiev,  after 
the  city  in  Eussia.  Their  venture  has  become  a 
marked  success  and  today  they  probably  have  the 
best  and  most  prosperous  Eussian  colony  of  any  in 
America.  Besides  these  agriculturists  there  are 
other  colonists  in  Virginia,  Ohio,  and  other  states, 
who  have  made  farming  successful.  But  the  big  fact 
remains  that  the  overwhelming  majority,  both  of 
Eussians  and  Euthenians,  are  to  be  found  in  the  un 
skilled  trades,  and  it  is  here  that  they  are  most 
liable  to  exploitation.  The  Christian  forces  of 
America  have  yet  adequately  to  minister  to  the  un 
skilled  workers. 

Changes  in  means  of  livelihood.— As  showing  the 
actual  reasons  which  forced  a  change  of  employment, 
perhaps  the  experience  of  one  Eussian  is  worth  re 
counting  because  it  is  more  or  less  typical.  Ivan 
arrived  in  New  York  with  his  wife  and  spent  the 
first  month  in  vainly  trying  to  secure  a  job  while 
his  savings,  the  product  of  years,  dwindled  to  noth 
ing.  Finally,  hearing  of  work  in  the  textile  mills 
of  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  he  left  his  wife  behind 
and,  thanks  to  his  splendid  physique,  was  given  a 
job  in  the  chemical  bleaching  department.  But  the 
chemicals  and  the  fumes  were  deadly  and  two  years 
of  this  work  took  their  toll  of  even  his  rugged 
physique,  he  had  pains  in  his  chest,  and  was  looking 
frail.  Because  he  had  been  able  to  save  a  little 
money,  he  left  the  factory  and  obtained  a  job  in  a 
coal  mine.  Here  the  cramped  position,  the  bad  air 
and  the  coal  dust  finished  what  the  textile  mill  had 
started;  Ivan  contracted  tuberculosis.  Again  he 
gave  up  his  position,  spent  his  money  on  patent 
medicines  and  finally  went  back  to  his  old  job  in  the 
chemical  department  at  Lawrence  at  a  reduced 
wage.  It  was  here  that  he  told  me  his  story  and 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  Si 

ending  said,  *  Russians  like  bulls.  If  you  put  Ameri 
can  at  my  job  he  die  in  two  years.  I  am  sick  now, 
but  have  done  it  for  ten  years,  and  now  they  call  me 
Bolshevik, — Fool!  I  don't  like  America. "  Now  al 
though  this  is  not  typical  of  all,  the  vast  majority 
of  Russians  do  secure  the  hardest  kinds  of  work  and 
find  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  better  their  condition. 
They  say,  "Even  when  we  have  ability  the  boss 
keeps  us  in  the  dirty  job  because  the  Americans  get 
the  preference." 

During  the  war,  thousands  of  Eussians  and  Euth- 
enians  left  their  old  jobs  to  enter  the  war  industries 
at  higher  pay  under  better  working  conditions, 
which  indicates  that  they  will  change  their  occupa 
tions  for  the  better  whenever  they  have  the  chance. 
There  is  this  fact  also  to  be  taken  into  considera 
tion — and  it  is  close  to  all  human  nature — most  of 
these  distasteful  occupations  become  monotonous; 
the  worker  may  go  from  the  mine  to  the  steel  plant, 
thence  to  digging  ditches  just  to  give  life  a  little 
interest.  A  Russian  workman  in  the  Ford  factory 
told  me  that  his  wage  was  good,  that  the  conditions 
of  work  were  better  than  in  other  factories,  and  yet 
he  could  not  stand  it  to  stay  there  permanently. 
The  monotony  of  the  machine  was  such  that  he  pre 
ferred  lower  pay  and  harder  work  occasionally  to 
the  deadening  routine. 

The  children  of  the  immigrant  naturally  turn 
away  from  the  hard  work  of  their  fathers  and  try 
to  secure  something  more  to  their  liking.  Fre 
quently  they  will  start  driving  grocery  wagons  and 
end  as  clerks  in  small  stores — they  usually  keep 
changing  their  employment  as  opportunity  offers. 
Even  so,  a  surprising  number  fall  into  the  same  rut 
as  their  fathers.  In  the  coal  mine  districts,  for  ex 
ample,  nearly  all  the  children  go  into  coal  mining. 
Dr.  Devine  in  his  Family  and  Social  Work  pre 
sents  the  case  of  the  sub-normal  youth,  which  would 


32      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

apply  to  many  Russian  children:  " Parental  neglect, 
congestion  of  population,  dirty  milk,  indigestible 
food,  uncleaned  streets,  with  the  resulting  contami 
nated  atmosphere,  the  prevalence  of  infectious  dis 
eases,  multiplied  temptations  to  break  the  law  and 
ordinances  regarding  the  use  of  the  streets  for  lack 
of  other  playground.  .  .  .  Let  them  be  followed  by 
employment  in  dead-end  occupations  in  which  there 
are  no  educational  elements,  no  serious  motives  to 
progress  and  application,  and  we  make  assurance 
doubly  sure  that  we  shall  have  sub-normal  adult 
workers.  Add  a  twelve-hour  day  and  a  seven  day 
week,  irregular,  casual  employment,  sub-standard 
wages,  speeding  processes  which  have  no  regard  to 
human  capacities  or  nervous  strains  for  which  the 
system  is  unprepared,  indecent  housing,  insanitary 
conditions  both  in  home  and  factory,  and  we  have 
an  explanation  amply  adequate  to  account  for  sub 
normal  wage-earners. ' '  This  would  not  apply  to  all 
the  Russian  children,  however,  for  several  of  the 
Russian  priests  tell  me  that  fully  50%  of  them  se 
cure  positions  as  clerks. 

Wages.— The  study  of  the  Immigration  Commis 
sion  in  1909  1  shows  that  2,819  foreign-born  Russians 
received  an  average  wage  of  $2.06  a  day;  this  is 
three  cents  below  the  average  of  all  the  foreign- 
born.  The  248  of  the  second  generation  received 
only  an  average  of  $1.98,  which  was  35  cents  below 
the  general  average  of  native-born  of  foreign  fa 
thers.  This  may  be  partially  explained  on  the  sup 
position  that  the  children  of  the  Russians  are 
younger  because  Russian  immigration  is  newer. 
The  same  study  shows  that  the  323  foreign-born 
Ruthenians  were  making  only  $1.92  a  day  or  six 
cents  less  than  the  Russians.  In  view  of  the  small 
number  this  is  probably  not  a  fair  estimate. 

1  Abstract  of  Report  of  Commission,  Vol.  I,  Table  26,  p.  371. 


THE   WIFE  OF   A    "RUSSIAN   REI>"    IN    NEW  JERSEY 


\Ree  pnge  12k 


RUSSIAN  POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


[See  page  S3 


RUTHENIAN  POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

llr—  -^ 


_lNo  Ruthenians      SS^3 1  n/7    -     1.5%\-i;.-~;v\^^$XN^s^ 
ES3  Less  than    .1%    MM  15?    ••     2.0%"          \\t'^r' 


!   .5^    --     1.0%  More  than  2.5?. 

of  the  Total  Ruthenian  Population 


\Seepage  2.-1 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  S3 

The  war  increased  wages  tremendously ;  the  ordi 
nary  Russian  or  Euthenian  day  laborer  who  had 
been  getting  from  two  to  three  dollars  a  day  (in 
Bridgeport,  Youngstown,  Cleveland,  and  other  cen 
ters)  during  the  war  reached  as  high  as  forty  and 
more  cents  an  hour.  But  after  the  war,  wages 
dropped  again.  A  study  1  of  95  single  Russians  in 
Chicago  revealed  the  fact  that  they  were  making 
from  $12  to  $30  a  week.  The  overwhelming  ma 
jority  and  the  average  number  earned  $23  a 
week.  Of  112  Russians  studied  in  this  same  report 
10,  or  9.4%,  were  out  of  employment  and  had  been 
so  for  from  three  weeks  to  four  months.  They 
claimed  discrimination  on  account  of  their  nation 
ality.2  In  Pittsburgh  in  1920  I  found  that  the  aver 
age  Russian  workman  received  from  $25  to  $30  a 
week,  but  this  does  not  take  into  account  time  lost 
from  shut  down,  sickness  and  other  causes.  An 
average  of  the  wages  of  the  Russians  in  the  cities  I 
have  visited  would  be  between  $22  to  $30  a  week. 

Standards  of  living.— Wages  are  almost  meaning 
less  unless  we  set  over  against  them  the  needs  of 
the  immigrant.  How  much  does  his  food,  clothing 
and  lodging  cost?  In  1909  according  to  the  Immi 
gration  Commission,3  the  average  rent  paid  by  the 
Russian  foreign-born  was  $7.46.  The  U.  S.  Labor 
Department  estimates  that  the  average  Russian  in 
1910  spent  101  dollars  a  year  for  his  apartment. 
Mr.  Cole  in  his  Chicago  study  found  that  the  great 
est  number  of  Russians,  and  the  average,  paid  a 
rent  between  $10  to  $13  a  month.  In  the  various 
cities  which  I  visited  I  found  that  the  rent  varied 
from  $10  to  $30,  but  the  majority  were  between  ten 
and  seventeen  dollars.  The  second  generation  tend 

*M.  A.  Thesis  of  J.  S.  Cole,  Chicago,  1919. 

*Kusslci  Slovo,  June  5,  1919. 

8  Abstract,  Vol.  I,  Table  65,  p.  420. 


54      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

to  pay  a  higher  rent,  for  they  try  to  make  things  look 
more  attractive  and  they  demand  a  better  home. 

The  average  single  Russian  rents  a  room  from  a 
Eussian  family  or  other  alien;  all  he  desires  is  a 
place  to  sleep  and  it  is  immaterial  to  him  how  many 
others  share  the  room,  provided  the  cost  is  accord 
ingly  reduced.  He  usually  secures  his  board  and 
room  in  one  of  the  following  ways : 

(a)  By  renting  a  room  and  boarding  himself; 

(b)  By   renting   a    room   and   boarding    at   the 
restaurants ; 

(c)  By  renting  rooms  cooperatively,  eating  most 
of  his  meals  in  a  restaurant,  but  taking  sup 
per  and  Sunday  meals  in  their  rooms  with 
the  others.    Often  such  groups  have  no  sys 
tem  in  their  buying.    First  one  man  makes  a 
purchase,  then  another,  and  each  time  the 
cost  is  divided ; 

(d)  By  boarding  in  a  family  where  the  landlady 
does  the  cooking  and  the  washing.    There  are 
several  ways  of  paying  for  the  board.    Some 
times,  although  rarely,  there  is  a  flat  rate,  in 
which  case  the  landlady  keeps  no  books.    In 
other  cases  she  buys  all  the  food  and  once 
every  two  weeks  the  total  bill  is  divided.    An 
other  method  is  for  the  landlady  to  purchase 
what  each  man  wants  and  charge  it  up  in  in 
dividual  account  books  kept  for  the  purpose. 

Everywhere  the  Eussian  pays  more  for  the  same 
food  than  does  an  American.  He  patronizes  the 
small  stores,  run  by  foreigners,  which  are  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  home.  The  turnover  is  not  large  and 
the  proprietor  makes  as  much  as  the  traffic  will  bear. 
Mr.  Sibray,  the  United  States  Immigration  Com 
missioner  in  Pittsburgh,  told  me,  "The  Eussians 
are  receiving  good  wages  today,  but  the  high  cost 
of  living  takes  it  all.  We  charge  the  foreigner  more 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  35 

than  we  charge  ourselves  for  everything. "  Increas 
ingly  one  finds  the  Russians  going  into  our  Ameri 
can  shops  to  buy  their  groceries.  In  one  place  in 
Pennsylvania,  where  the  mine  is  three  miles  from 
the  town,  the  Russians  will  walk  the  entire  distance, 
returning  heavily  loaded  with  their  purchases  rather 
than  patronize  the  company  store  which  charges 
higher  prices. 

The  standard  of  living  of  the  Russian  and  Rut-h- 
enian  naturally  is  low.  They  are  perfectly  willing 
to  be  overcrowded.  In  the  United  States  Immigra 
tion  study  in  1909,1  out  of  75  Russian  households 
there  was  an  average  of  2.85  persons  per  sleeping 
room.  Among  the  Ruthenians,  out  of  531  house 
holds  there  was  an  average  of  2.83  persons  per 
sleeping  room.  The  general  average  for  the  total 
foreign-born  was  2.53,  so  that  Russians  and  Ruth 
enians  were  considerably  below  the  average.  In  his 
Chicago  report,  Mr.  Cole  recorded  the  cubic  feet  of 
air  per  Russian  in  each  sleeping  room  and  found 
that  only  35%  of  the  single  Russians  had  the  400 
cubic  feet  required  by  the  Chicago  ordinance,  and 
18%  of  the  family  Russians.  In  spite  of  this  fact, 
Mr.  Cole  found  that  although  their  average  weekly 
wage  was  only  23  dollars,  51%  were  spending  20 
dollars  or  over  a  week.  The  Russians  buy  expen 
sive  clothes,  and  they  eat  quantities  of  meat.  The 
daily  food  ration  of  the  Russian  workmen  with 
whom  I  talked  in  Pittsburgh  was  this :  at  5  A.M.,  cof 
fee  and  bread;  at  9  A.M.,  sausage  (culbasa),  bread 
and  an  apple ;  at  noon,  coffee,  steak  and  bread ;  and 
at  6  o'clock,  cabbage  soup,  one-half  pound  of  meat, 
bread  and  potatoes.  The  standard  of  living  of  the 
Russians  and  the  Ruthenians  seems  constantly  to 
be  rising.  At  present  they  can  live  more  cheaply 
than  Americans  only  because  they  are  willing  to 
put  up  with  congested  quarters  and  low  rents. 

1  Abstract  of  Keport  of  Commission,  Vol.  I,  Table  72,  p.  430. 


36      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

The  number  of  producers  in  the  family.— Nearly 
all  the  wives  of  the  foreign-born  Eussians  and  Ruth- 
enians  do  work  of  some  kind.  Ordinarily  they  do 
their  share  by  taking  in  boarders.  This  is  not  so 
customary  in  the  case  of  their  married  children  who 
have  begun  to  acquire  American  standards  and  pre 
fer  to  be  alone.  When  the  foreign-born  Russian 
woman  is  able  to  do  so,  that  is,  if  she  has  no  chil 
dren  or  they  are  old  enough,  she  frequently  is  also 
a  wage  earner.  In  Hartford  the  priest  informed  me 
that  many  of  the  Russian  and  Ruthenian  women 
worked  cutting  tobacco  in  the  fields  during  the  sum 
mer  and  in  winter  received  money  for  stringing  the 
leaves.  The  children  all  go  to  school  in  accordance 
with  the  state  laws  except  that  the  parents  try  to 
evade  the  legal  age  limit  and  force  the  children  to 
work  too  early.  Even  while  attending  school,  the 
children  usually  earn  some  money  out  of  school 
hours  by  doing  such  tasks  as  selling  newspapers, 
driving  grocery  wagons  and  delivering  telegrams  or 
messages.  The  girls  often  get  work  in  candy  and 
biscuit  factories,  canneries,  and  the  like.  In  the 
rural  communities,  the  children  work  on  the  farm 
and  so  can  legitimately  be  considered  producers. 

Savings.— Before  and  during  the  war,  most  of  the 
Russian  and  Ruthenian  families  were  able  to  save, 
but  there  is  no  accurate  method  of  computing  the 
amount.  According  to  Mr.  Vilcher,  formerly  editor 
of  the  Russki  Slovo,  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  their 
saving  can  be  gained  from  the  fact  that  the  total 
amount  of  money  sent  to  Russia  by  the  immigrants, 
in  the  few  years  preceding  the  war  was  fifty  mil 
lions.  He  also  states  that  37  workers  in  one  small 
place  sent  47,862  roubles  to  Russia  in  one  year,  an 
average  of  about  $646  a  year.  He  estimates  that  in 
1917  the  average  Russian  was  saving  from  20-25 
dollars  a  month;  but  since  the  war  this  has  been 
greatly  reduced.  Mr.  Cole  in  his  Chicago  report 


ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  37 

finds  that  out  of  112  Russians,  all  of  whom  had 
been  saving  before  the  war,  only  twenty  are  now 
able  to  do  so.  Of  1,138  Russian  workmen  of  the 
Ford  company  known  to  be  receiving  high  wages, 
917  had  no  bank  account.1  In  traveling  among 
the  Russian  colonies  I  found  conditions  vary 
ing  in  this  respect,  but  in  general,  most  of  the  single 
Russians  and  Ruthenians  who  have  steady  work 
save  something ;  all  of  them  claiming  that  it  is  much 
less  than  before  the  war.  This  was  in  large  meas 
ure  due  to  higher  standards  of  living  acquired  dur 
ing  the  period  of  high  war  wages,  to  increasing 
costs,  and  still  more,  to  irregularities  of  employ 
ment.  The  steel  strike  exhausted  the  savings  of 
thousands  of  Russians,  and. the  fact  that  the  coal 
miners  were  working  only  an  average  of  two  hours 
a  day  during  most  of  the  spring  of  1920,  also  had 
its  effect. 

Unrest.— The  Russian  workman  feels  more  of  the 
prevailing  unrest  than  his  Ruthenian  brother.  It  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that  90%  of  the  Russian 
workmen  are  dissatisfied.  Setting  aside  their 
grounds  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  American  people 
for  treatment  in  Chapter  VII,  it  seems  natural  that 
they  should  be  restless.  They  feel  that  they  are 
now  getting  less  wage  return  in  purchasing  power 
than  they  did  when  they  first  came  to  America. 
Many  of  them  have  given  their  best  health  and 
strength  to  our  industries.  Some  among  them  have 
lost  an  eye,  an  arm,  or  a  leg ;  others  have  been  killed 
outright  in  industrial  accidents.  It  seems  as  if  the 
greater  proportion  bear  the  scar  of  some  disaster 
in  industry  and  all  of  them  bear  the  scars  which 
come  through  heavy  toil.  All  this  has  made  for  dis 
content  among  the  Russians.  But  since  the  war  it 
has  been  augmented  by  the  fact  that  communica 
tion  with  Russia  has  been  broken  and  many  have  not 

1  Statistics  of  the  Welfare  Department  of  the  Ford  plant. 


38      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

heard  from  their  loved  ones  in  Europe  for  three 
long  years.  A  revolution  has  occurred.  The  Rus 
sian  impatiently  longs  to  return  to  the  home-land 
which  he  now  pictures  as  the  country  where  all  is 
beautiful,  where  there  is  no  exploitation,  and  where 
the  worker  has  justice.  The  real  cause  of  this  un 
rest  has  been  well  expressed  by  President  Wilson: 
"It  is  the  human  cost  of  industry,  the  cost  of  lives 
snuffed  out,  of  energies  over-taxed  and  broken,  the 
fearful  physical  and  spiritual  cost  to  the  men  and 
women  and  children  upon  whom  the  dead  weight 
and  burden  of  it  all  has  fallen  pitilessly  the  years 
through.  The  groans  and  agony  of  it  all  has  not 
reached  our  ears,  the  solemn,  moving  undertone  of 
their  lives,  coming  up  out  of  the  mines  and  factories 
and  out  of  every  home  where  the  struggle  has  its 
intimate  and  familiar  seat." 


Chapter  III 
SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 

The  Russians  and  Ruthenians  in  their  social  rela 
tions  are  almost  untouched  by  American  life  except 
for  the  children  who  attend  the  public  schools. 

Housing. — Housing  conditions  vary  according  to 
the  colony.  In  the  agricultural  districts,  most  of  the 
Russians  and  Ruthenians  own  their  own  homes. 
Many  of  these  compare  favorably  with  the  houses 
of  Americans.  In  the  mining  communities  the  Rus 
sians  rent  and  sometimes  buy  small  houses.  In  the 
study  of  Russian  households  which  was  made  by  the 
IT.  S.  Immigration  Commission  in  1909,1  out  of  83 
Russians  considered,  only  one  owned  his  own  home ; 
and  out  of  626  Ruthenians  only  42  or  6.7%.  Since 
then,  however,  the  percentage  has  greatly  increased. 
For  instance,  among  50  Russian  families  investi 
gated  in  Los  Angeles  in  1915,  twenty-six  owned 
their  own  homes,  which  averaged  in  value  about 
$2,000.2  Among  the  1,160  Russian  employees  of  the 
Ford  plant  at  Detroit  in  1917,  eighteen  owned  their 
own  homes  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  were 
buying  them.  As  is  usually  the  case  where  the  ten 
ants  are  the  owners,  the  houses  are  in  better  repair, 
are  cleaner  and  more  sanitary  than  rented  ones, 
possibly  because  those  who  become  able  to  buy  are 
the  more  progressive  foreigners.  It  is  still  true 
today,  however,  that  the  great  majority  do  live  in 

1  Abstract  of  Report  of  Commission,  Vol.  I,  Table  89,  p.  467. 
a  The  Russians  in  Los  Angeles — Lillian  Sokaloff. 

39 


40      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

rented  houses.  In  the  cities  the  Eussians  and  Euth- 
enians  ordinarily  rent  rooms  in  tenements.  Mr.  Cole 
in  his  Chicago  study  of  1919  found  that  out  of  30 
occupied  by  Eussians,  there  was  an  average  of  7.2 
individuals  living  in  an  average  apartment  of  4.3 
rooms.  Eleven  of  these  were  front  apartments 
while  14  were  rear ;  one  was  in  the  center.  Eighteen 
had  their  own  toilets,  eleven  had  hall  toilets  shared 
by  8  to  19  outsiders,  and  one  had  the  toilet  in  the 
yard  which  was  shared  by  12  others.  Only  two  of 
the  thirty  had  a  bath  tub  and  in  one  of  these  cases  it 
was  used  for  laundry  purposes.  My  study  of  vari 
ous  Eussian  communities  showed  that  most  Eussians 
are  living  in  the  worst  type  of  tenement  apartments. 
The  investigation  of  the  1,160  Eussian  workers  em 
ployed  at  the  Ford  plant  in  Detroit  in  1917  is  one 
exception.  According  to  the  statistics  of  the  Ford 
investigators  978  had  good  homes,  157  fair,  and  25 
poor  homes,  but  the  Ford  plant  naturally  attracts 
the  best  type  of  worker.  The  homes  I  saw  in  Pitts 
burgh  are  more  typical.  I  well  remember  one  apart 
ment  of  three  rooms.  The  family  was  paying  $17  a 
month,  but  on  May  1,  1920,  it  was  to  be  increased  to 
$20.  There  was  one  inside  room,  entirely  without 
windows  and  heated  by  an  ill-smelling  gas  stove, 
where  all  the  family  slept.  Five  boarders  each  paid 
$6  a  month  for  the  use  of  one  room,  and  the  other 
was  a  kitchen,  laundry  and  living  room  all  in  one.  I 
visited  two  of  the  steel  mill  districts  and  inspected 
the  frame  tenements.  In  one  apartment  the  family, 
consisting  of  father  and  mother  and  four  children, 
slept  in  one  room,  while  seven  men  slept  in  the  other 
three.  All  the  windows  were  closed  and  the  floor 
was  used  as  a  spittoon.  The  rent  for  the  bare,  di 
lapidated  rooms  without  heat  was  $18  a  month. 
Every  crack  in  the  wall  was  stuffed  with  rags;  a 
motley  array  of  clothes  was  hanging  in  the  room 
to  dry,  yet  this  was  typical  of  hundreds  of  such 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  41 

apartments  in  Pittsburgh.  In  general  the  Russians 
are  at  the  bottom  of  the  social  scale  as  far  as  their 
homes  are  concerned. 

Michael  M.  Davis,  in  his  study  of  Health  Stand 
ards  of  the  immigrant,  for  the  Carnegie  Americani 
zation  Study  says,  "Wretched  and  unsanitary  hous 
ing  is  not  the  immigrant's  responsibility  alone.  The 
native  American  must  bear  a  large  share  of  the 
blame. "  He  gives  a  fair  picture  of  the  Eussian  huts 
in  some  of  our  mining  districts :  '  *  The  coal  and  iron 
mining  regions  of  the  country  to  which  so  many 
of  the  Finns  and  Slavic  peoples  turn,  show  some  of 
our  worst  housing  conditions.  Shacks  are  built  both 
by  individuals  and  by  mining  companies  close  to 
mine  shafts,  pits  and  coke  ovens.  Tin  cans,  tar 
paper,  aad  old  boards  furnish  building  materials  for 
crazy  shelters.  Into  one  or  more  small  rooms  crowd 
the  large  families  of  the  workmen.  Toilets  are  either 
absent,  or  else  miserable  privies  are  erected  and 
neglected.  Out-door  pumps  furnish  water,  and  the 
ground  surface  serves  as  a  sewer. "  Many  of  the 
foreign  quarters  in  our  cities  are  only  a  step  in  ad 
vance  of  these.  In  renting  apartments  the  Eussian 
does  not  come  into  contact  with  the  owner  but  the 
agent  only.  It  is  seldom  that  repairs  are  made. 
As  one  Eussian  expressed  it  to  me,  "Agent  wants 
money ;  if  ask  fix  floor  he  says,  *  Go  to  hell  or  get  out 
of  the  place  if  you  don't  like  it.'  " 

A  typical  row  of  Eussian  tenements  is  found  on 
Spruce  Alley  in  Pittsburgh.  On  one  side  towers  the 
steel  plant,  exhaling  smoke  and  dirt  twenty-four 
hours  a  day,  while  across  the  alley  live  the  Eussian 
workers.  Frequently  the  passage  is  blocked  by  a 
long  line  of  empty  freight  cars  waiting  to  take  on 
their  load  of  steel  or  to  discharge  ore.  In  these 
small  brick  houses  you  will  find  as  many  as  five  Eus 
sian  families,  to  say  nothing  of  a  score  or  more  of 
Russian  boarders.  A  typical  frame  tenement  rented 


42      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

by  Russians  is  next  to,  and  above  miles  and  miles 
of  smoking  steel  furnaces.  Garbage  and  old  cans 
can  be  seen  piled  against  the  fence  and  upon  the 
sidewalk  in  front  of  the  house.  The  little  outhouse 
is  shared  by  all  the  families  in  the  tenement  and  one 
can  readily  imagine  that  immoral  conditions  will  re 
sult.  An  apartment  in  the  Soho  district  is  always 
flooded  with  water  after  a  hard  rain.  The  fact  that 
the  garbage  collects  in  huge  piles  on  each  of  the 
three  sides  and  that  the  little  outhouse  is  the  com 
mon  property  of  all,  creates  a  sanitary  condition 
beyond  description. 

After  seeing  their  houses  I  do  not  wonder  that  Dr. 
John  Kulzzyszki,  a  practicing  Ukranian  physician 
in  Scranton,  told  me:  "The  greatest  thing  that 
America  can  do  for  the  foreigners  is  to  control  the 
renting  of  houses.  Americans  build  holes  wiiich  are 
not  fit  for  pigs  to  live  in  and  rent  them  out  to  Rus- 
sians.  People  say  the  Russians  live  badly  because 
they  live  that  way  in  Russia,  but  there  they  were 
compelled  to  live  that  way,  here  they  should  have  a 
chance  to  improve  their  way  of  living.''  Perhaps 
part  of  the  blame  for  the  poor  housing  may  attach 
to  the  lack  of  initiative  of  the  Russians  and  Ruthen- 
ians,  but  certainly  it  is  to  the  shame  of  our  social 
order  that  little  or  nothing  is  done  to  help  educate 
them  to  better  standards  or  to  compel  the  American 
owners  to  make  decency  possible  for  their  tenants. 

Health.— The  Russians  and  Ruthenians  coming 
from  an  out-door  farm  life  are  physically  strong,  but 
the  change  to  American  conditions  is  hard  for  them. 
Those  with  whom  I  have  talked  give  the  following 
reasons  why  they  so  often  lose  their  strength  in 
America : 

(1)  The  climate  is  bad.  The  damp  atmosphere  with 
the  alternating  hot  and  cold  temperature  is  far 
different  from  the  dry  cold  of  Russia. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  43 

(2)  The    factory    air    surcharged    with    chemical 
fumes,  dust  and  other  impurities  is  a  radical 
change  from  that  of  the  open  fields. 

(3)  The  unsanitary  tenement  houses  with  the  result 
ant  overcrowding  breeds  disease. 

(4)  The  constant  meat  diet  as  contrasted  with  the 
fresh   vegetables   of   the    Russian   peasant   is 
harmful. 

As  the  Orthodox  priest  expressed  it  in  Coaldale, 
Pa.,  "Here  they  eat  bad  vegetables,  decayed  meat 
and  dirty  flour. ' '  In  his  opinion  the  custom  acquired 
in  America  of  sleeping  on  mattresses  simply  re 
sulted  in  a  better  breeding  ground  for  fleas  and 
bedbugs  which  were  consequently  worse  than  in 
Eussia. 

Not  only  do  the  Russians  eat  a  large  amount  of 
meat,  but  if  they  patronize  boarding  houses  they 
frequently  get  the  worst  kind.  The  wife  of  the 
priest  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  told  me  she  saw  one  Rus 
sian  boarding  house  keeper  in  1920  buy  27  pounds 
of  meat  for  $1.50.  It  was  the  cheapest  there  was 
for  the  meat  man  picked  it  out  from  the  scraps  un 
der  the  table.  Many  forces  tend  to  undermine  the 
health  of  the  Russians  in  America,  but  fortunately 
only  the  strongest  and  most  daring  have  braved  the 
uncertainty  of  immigration. 

Recreation.— Mr.  Cole  made  a  tabulation  of  the 
predominant  recreational  interests  of  98  Russian 
men  in  Chicago,  a  small  sample,  but  one  which  cor 
responds  with  the  author's  own  investigation.  Six 
teen  claimed  the  saloon  and  more  than  half  fre 
quented  it;  13  named  the  movies.  The  other  inter 
ests  in  the  order  of  their  importance  are:  reading 
13,  dancing  11,  music  11,  home  6,  girls  5,  church  5, 
walking  4,  bowling  4,  theater  3,  pool  3,  cards  2  and 
meetings  2.  The  men  who  work  seven  days  a  week 
were  very  bitter  when  asked,  "What  do  you  do 


44,       RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

when  you  want  to  have  a  good  time?"  One  said, 
"When  we  want  a  good  time,  sleep  a  couple  of 
hours. "  Another  said,  "We  work  like  bull,  no  time 
for  rest." 

The  Prohibition  Amendment  has  been  of  enor 
mous  benefit  to  the  Eussians  and  Euthenians,  and 
has  brought  a  change  in  their  recreational  life.  In 
one  mining  town  in  Pennsylvania  the  authorities 
told  me  that  in  the  days  of  the  saloon  they  had  to 
keep  a  special  policeman  all  the  time  to  handle  the 
drunken  quarrels  arising  among  the  Eussians  and 
Euthenians.  Now  they  have  no  policeman.  Our 
American  civic  and  religious  forces  have,  as  yet, 
put  nothing  in  the  place  of  the  saloon,  and  the  Rus 
sian  spends  his  time  as  best  he  can.  Nearly  all  pat 
ronize  the  moving  picture  house.  The  cases  of  Eus 
sians  arrested  in  the  communist  raids  may  be  some 
what  exceptional  and  yet  they  are  significant.  Out 
of  the  40  interviewed,  18  went  to  the  movies  once 
a  week  or  oftener  and  to  the  theater  once  or  more 
in  two  weeks.  Nine  of  them  went  on  an  average  of 
2.7  times  a  week.  The  remainder  went  rarely  once 
every  two  weeks  or  a  month.  Those  who  patronized 
the  movies  over  twice  a  week  went  to  the  theater 
about  three  times  a  month.  If  only  the  religious  and 
civic  forces  could  realize  what  a  potent  force  the 
moving  picture  is!  It  is  so  tremendously  effective 
for  either  good  or  evil  and  there  is  no  question  about 
the  present  evil  effects.  The  foreigners  usually  pat 
ronize  the  smaller  shows.  The  character  of  the  pic 
tures  as  seen  by  the  writer  were  largely  of  the  sex 
appeal  mingled  with  dime  novel  mystery  and  mur 
der.  One  Eussian  workman  in  Akron  characterized 
them  as  "only  play,  killing  and  jumping."  Often 
they  depict  the  life  of  millionaires  living  in  idleness 
and  luxury.  Naturally  the  Eussian  who  seldom 
comes  into  contact  with  real  Americans  often  forms 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  45 

his  conceptions  of  American  life  from  these  pictures. 
They  naturally  make  him  think  of  the  contrast  be 
tween  his  family  standard  and  that  portrayed  in  the 
film. 

Card  playing  is  a  constant  source  of  amusement. 
Many  of  the  Eussians  play  at  home  and  often  there 
is  the  added  incentive  of  money  stakes.  It  is  hardly 
to  be  wondered  at,  for  when  they  cannot  read  they 
have  few  other  amusements. 

Dances  are  frequently  held  among  the  Eussian 
and  Euthenian  people  and  are  very  largely  patron 
ized.  Occasionally,  also,  amateur  theatricals  are 
staged.  Most  of  the  Eussians  love  music ;  balilika 1 
and  stringed  orchestras  are  common. 

Until  the  wholesale  arrests  by  our  Federal  au 
thorities,  many  of  the  Eussians  attended  small  po 
litical  clubs  and  meetings ;  since  then  group  meetings 
have  been  precarious  and  consequently  secret.  It  is 
obvious  that  for  the  thousands  of  Eussians  working 
twelve  hours  a  day  seven  days  a  week  in  the  steel 
plants,  there  can  be  little  recreation.  For  these 
men,  the  first  condition  necessary  is  a  just  change 
of  working  hours. 

In  the  agricultural  districts  the  dearth  of  enter 
tainment  is  even  more  apparent.  Perhaps  it  has  not 
been  an  entire  loss  that  they  have  not  even  had  the 
modern  brand  of  moving  pictures  in  so  many  rural 
communities.  From  the  foregoing  it  is  apparent 
that  we  must  provide  good  recreational  centers  for 
these  foreigners,  if  they  are  to  have  wholesome  rec 
reation  at  all.  The  second  generation  speak  and 
read  English  and  so  are  able  to  use  and  appreciate 
our  libraries  and  theaters.  The  amusement  problem 
is  not  so  serious  for  them. 

Married  or  single.— A  large  majority  of  Eussians 
are  single  or  do  not  have  their  wives  with  them  here. 

1  The  balilika  is  a  Russian  musical  instrument. 


46      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

In  the  Immigration  report  of  1910,1  41.4  per  cent 
of  the  3,760  Eussian  males  were  single,  but  there 
were  no  figures  as  to  how  many  of  the  others  had 
their  wives  in  Kussia.  In  the  same  statistics,  35.1 
per  cent  of  the  Euthenians  were  single.  We  can  be 
fairly  certain  that  of  the  others  recorded  as  married, 
the  great  majority  had  wives  in  Europe.  From  1898 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  only  14  per  cent  of  the 
Eussian  immigration  has  been  female  and  86  per 
cent  male.  This  means  that  on  entering  the  United 
States  at  least  72  per  cent  of  the  Eussians  were 
single  or  without  their  wives. 

Family  life. — Life  in  such  tenements  as  pictured, 
page  128,  cannot  be  very  ideal.  There  you  see  the 
home  of  one  Eussian  family.  The  sitting  room, 
kitchen  and  bedroom  are  all  in  one.  The  husband 
works  twelve  hours  a  night  and  when  the  picture 
was  taken  at  eleven  o'clock  Sunday  morning,  was 
sound  asleep.  The  three  children  sleep  on  the 
other  side  of  the  room.  The  wife  contributes 
her  share  toward  the  support  of  the  family  by 
renting  the  " extra"  room  to  boarders.  The  apart 
ment  of  two  rooms  costs  $16  a  month.  The  con 
dition  of  the  walls  can  readily  be  seen  in  the  pic 
ture,  and  it  is  obvious  that  in  such  a  house  there 
can  be  little  wholesome  family  life,  yet  this 
is  typical  of  hundreds  of  Eussian  homes.  The 
children  go  to  our  American  schools;  their  last  re 
port  cards  showed  that  they  were  doing  good  work 
in  their  studies  but  they  get  no  help  from  their  par 
ents  who  are  illiterate.  Both  these  children  said 
they  enjoyed  school;  but  as  soon  as  they  can  pass 
the  school  inspector  they  will  be  sent  to  work  in  or 
der  to  contribute  their  share  towards  the  family  in 
come.  I  went  over  their  expenses  with  the  mother 
and  found  that  the  family  was  not  saving  a  cent. 

*Th6  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission;  Abstract,  Vol.  I,  Table  83, 
p.  451. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  47 

The  cost  of  food,  and  clothes  for  the  children  who 
insist  on  being  dressed  well  enough  to  compare  fa 
vorably  with  the  other  school  children,  mtade  saving 
impossible. 

This  illustration  is  not  typical  of  all  the  Eussian 
and  Kuthenian  families,  yet  it  is  surprising  how 
many  Russians  live  in  this  way.  It  is  even  more  as 
tonishing  how  hard  some  of  the  women  work.  For 
example,  Mrs.  Sinkovitch  in  Massachusetts  works 
for  27  people — 7  children  and  18  boarders.  She 
gets  up  at  six  in  the  morning  and  works  until  night 
preparing  three  meals  daily  for  the  entire  group  as 
well  as  doing  all  the  laundry,  yet  she  thinks  she  is 
not  working  very  hard.  The  pall  of  hard  monoto 
nous  labor  lies  heavy  upon  the  entire  family.  The 
men  return  from  the  day's  work  in  blast  furnace  or 
mine  tired  out  and  cannot  have  any  real  comrade 
ship  with  their  wives  and  children.  The  latter  con 
tinue  to  grow  away  from  them:  the  parents  cannot 
speak  English  which  the  children  use  between  them 
selves,  and  often  even  answer  their  parents  in  Eng 
lish.  Yet  I  found  in  many  of  the  homes  great  pride 
in  the  children ;  the  parents  want  them  to  secure  bet 
ter  jobs  and  live  an  easier  life  than  they  themselves 
have  had.  In  many  cases,  the  younger  generation 
grow  estranged  from  their  parents  because  of  their 
backwardness  and  their  old  country  traits. 

Neighborhood  life.— The  neighborhood  in  which 
the  Russians  live  is  usually  the  habitat  of  the  Rus 
sian  Jews  and  frequently  of  the  Poles,  Lithuanians 
and  Ruthenians  as  well.  Outside  of  business  deal 
ings  there  is  little  neighborhood  life  going  on.  The 
Social  Unit  District  Plan  of  Cincinnati  would  be  a 
wonderful  device  to  help  the  Russians  develop  com 
munity  life.  With  those  speaking  other  languages, 
the  Russian  has  little  to  do.  Within  the  group  they 
go  to  the  Orthodox  Church  occasionally — more 
rarely  since  the  revolution — but  especially  on  Easter 


48      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

or  for  weddings,  funerals  and  the  christening  of 
their  children.  The  single  Eussians  have  political 
clubs  and  some  forms  of  amusement  to  draw  them 
together.  For  the  women,  the  store  is  the  ren 
dezvous  for  information  and  gossip.  It  is  usually 
run  by  one  of  a  Slavic  nationality,  or  by  a  Jew  who 
can  converse  in  Eussian.  Of  Americans  and  Ameri 
can  life  they  see  almost  nothing.  Possibly  they  may 
attend  their  children's  graduating  exercises  at  the 
public  school,  but  the  chances  are  that  they  do  not 
have  the  proper  clothes  to  wear. 

The  Euthenians  are  much  more  regular  atten 
dants  at  all  church  functions  than  the  Eussians  and 
in  their  districts  there  seems  to  be  more  of  a  neigh 
borhood  spirit.  Consequently  among  the  Euthenians 
the  dances,  the  plays  and  the  neighborhood  affairs 
are  more  frequent.  These  obviously  are  all  strictly 
foreigners'  affairs  and  do  not  bring  the  immigrant 
into  touch  with  American  life. 

But  to  children,  nationality  never  means  much  and 
immigrant  children  are  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
They  need  play,  and  they  join  heartily  with  all  the 
others  in  the  neighborhood,  regardless  of  racial  dis 
tinctions.  The  ash  heap,  which  is  also  the  garbage 
and  refuse  dump,  is  the  playground  of  a  polyglot 
group  of  foreign  children.  The  Eussians  and 
Euthenians,  along  with  the  little  Negroes,  slide 
down  the  hill  on  their  coats  in  lieu  of  a  sled.  School 
socials  or  picnics  as  well  as  the  class-room  work  also 
tend  to  unite  the  children.  The  great  need  of  these 
foreign  children  is  better  playground  facilities  and 
the  extension  of  neighborhood  settlements  with  so 
cial  workers  who  will  show  them  how  to  live  and 
work  together. 

In  the  rural  districts  there  are  very  few  neighbor 
hood  affairs.  One  of  the  Eussian  citizens  of  Max, 
North  Dakota,  told  me  that  until  1915  the  Eussians 
feared  to  get  together  for  anything  except  religious 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  49 

services;  the  habitual  distrust  of  generations  of  a 
Tsar's  tyranny  still  persisted  in  the  land  of  free 
speech  and  assembly. 

Moral  standards.— The  moral  standards  of  the  sin 
gle  Russians  are  comparatively  low  as  regards 
sexual  immorality.  The  reasons  are  plain :  they  are 
far  from  their  wives,  or  perhaps  are  forced  to  re 
main  single  because  of  the  small  number  of  unmar 
ried  Russian  women  in  this  country.  The  dark  halls, 
the  toilets  used  in  common,  and  the  living  arrange 
ments  in  which  men,  women  and  children  sleep  in 
close  proximity,  all  make  for  moral  laxity.  Further 
more,  in  the  case  of  a  family  which  takes  in  boarders, 
the  husband  leaves  the  wife  alone  with  the  tenants 
for  long  hours  at  a  time;  he  may  even  work  on  a 
night  shift.  The  Russian  newspapers  frequently  ad 
vertise  asking  for  knowledge  of  the  whereabouts  of 
a  wife  who  has  run  away  with  one  of  the  family's 
boarders.  In  the  agricultural  districts  the  moral 
standards  are  much  higher:  there  is  seldom  any 
crime  and  there  is  much  less  immorality. 

In  1908  statistics  of  alien  prisoners  in  the  United 
States  *  showed  156  Russians  imprisoned ;  of  these 
41  per  cent  had  been  committed  for  gainful  offenses, 
25  per  cent  for  personal  violence,  25.6  per  cent 
against  public  policy  and  only  2.6  per  cent  against 
chastity.  The  latter  is  about  1  per  cent  below  the 
total  average.  Of  119  Russians  in  charity  hospitals 
in  1909,2  only  4  had  venereal  disease  and  among 
30  Ruthenians  only  1.  Except  for  so-called  political 
offenses  (that  is,  membership  in  the  Communist 
Party  or  sympathy  with  the  Russian  Bolsheviks),  I 
found  that  universally  the  Russians  were  considered 
very  law-abiding  by  the  public  authorities.  This 
was  even  more  true  of  the  Ruthenians  because  they 
did  not  have  the  stigma  of  Bolshevism  attached  to 

1  Abstract  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  I,  Table  36,  p.  212. 
'Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  Table  18. 


50      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

them.  The  crime  statistics  as  reported  by  the  City 
of  Chicago 1  show  that  the  percentage  of  Russian 
criminals  out  of  every  1,000  is  far  smaller  than  the 
corresponding  ratio  for  Americans.  Is  it  not  sig 
nificant  that  although  the  Russians  were  living  in 
the  worst  section  of  the  city,  in  touch  with  the  sordid 
side  of  American  life,  they  were  as  law-abiding  and 
as  honest  as  the  average  American? 

Relation  to  the  old  country.— The  second  genera 
tion  of  Russians  and  Ruthenians  feel  that  America 
is  their  home.  They  speak  English  and  understand 
it  better  than  they  do  Russian;  they  have  not  the 
same  longing  to  see  the  old  country  their  parents 
have.  Nevertheless,  the  unfortunate  experience 
which  a  few  of  them  have  had  in  our  industrial  life 
has  embittered  them  against  America — the  squalid 
tenement  houses,  the  daily  grind  of  the  factory,  the 
isolation  from  the  good  things  of  American  life. 
These  men  want  to  try  the  new  Russia  if  perchance 
she  will  prove  to  be  a  land  of  freedom.  Some  of  the 
younger  Russians  who  actually  want  to  become  citi 
zens  meet  opposition  from  their  parents  who  say, 
"We  are  only  transients  in  an  unfriendly  country/' 

While  the  Russians  and  Ruthenians  on  the  farms 
keep  as  closely  in  touch  with  the  homeland  as  do  the 
others,  most  of  them  feel  more  contented  and  plan 
to  make  America  their  permanent  home. 

Relation  to  other  racial  groups.— The  Russians 
and  Ruthenians  do  not  mix  together  much,  although 
they  do  inter-marry.  One  never  finds  a  Russian  club 
with  many  Ruthenians  enrolled  and  the  reverse  is 
also  true.  The  pastor  of  one  of  the  Protestant  Rus 
sian  churches  told  me  that  he  found  it  difficult  to  get 
them  to  mingle  at  all.  He  said  that  irrespective  of 
the  differences  in  the  language,  they  just  aren't 
happy  together.  Because  there  is  such  a  dearth  of 

1  Annual  Keport  Police  Department,  Chicago,  1919;  Report  of  the 
Chicago  City  Council  Committee  on  Crime,  1915. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  51 

Russian  women,  however,  they  sometimes  inter 
marry. 

The  Russian  workmen  dislike  the  Irish  because  so 
many  of  the  latter,  as  bosses,  treat  them  badly  in 
the  mines  and  factories.  The  Orthodox  priest  in 
Olyphant,  Pa.,  said,  "The  Welsh  give  toward  my 
church  work,  the  Irish  say  'get  out'  and  I  have  not 
met  a  real  American  here."  The  workmen  say  the 
Poles  make  better  bosses  than  the  Irish,  but  still 
are  bad,  and  the  Americans  are  better  than  either, 
but  are  seldom  met.  Of  course  the  Russian  meets 
the  other  nationalities  employed  in  his  shop,  and  if 
he  is  farming,  he  meets  the  neighboring  farmers, 
whether  Germans,  Norwegians,  Bohemians  or 
Swedes,  and  the  relationship  is  usually  a  friendly 
one. 

All  the  Slav  groups  intermingle  somewhat  and 
you  find  some  intermarriage  between  Russians  and 
Poles.  The  Jews  play  an  important  part  in  the  life 
of  the  Russians  and  Ruthenians  in  this  country  as 
many  of  them  speak  one  or  the  other  of  their  lan 
guages  and  come  from  Russia.  When  the  Russians 
wish  to  deposit  their  money,  they  frequently  turn 
to  a  Jew;  when  they  are  sick,  a  Jewish  doctor  pre 
scribes  their  medicine,  and  if  they  are  in  legal  dif 
ficulties,  a  Jewish  lawyer  helps  them  out.  Indeed, 
many  of  the  Jews  are  rendering  excellent  service 
to  the  foreigners.  At  the  same  time  there  are  many 
shyster  doctors  and  lawyers  who  exploit  the  igno 
rant  Russian  and  Ruthenian.  The  Russian  news 
papers  display  in  flaring  advertisements:  "Sick 
People  Come  to  Me,"  "Consultation  Free,"  "Hun 
dreds  of  operations  for  both  men  and  women  have 
been  avoided,"  "Do  you  suffer  from  weak  nerves, 
lame  back,  pimples,  sores,  catarrh,  sore  throat,  con 
stipation,  etc.,  etc.,"  "My  principle — the  golden 
rule,"  "In  the  treatment  of  rheumatism,  blood  and 
skin  disorders  and  many  other  ailments,  electric 


52      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

treatment,  intravenous  injection  and  absorption 
methods  assure  you  of  positive  results  without  inter 
ference  with  your  work." 

Naturally  the  methods  of  the  bad  Jews  have 
placed  a  certain  amount  of  stigma  on  them  all. 
Nevertheless,  the  Russians  and  Ruthenians  patron 
ize  them  now,  and  will  continue  to  as  long  as  they 
know  of  no  better  place  to  go.  The  Jewish  doctors 
like  their  Russian  patients.  "They  always  pay  our 
fees  without  grumbling, "  is  the  comment  of  one 
such  physician.  Today  a  few  Russians  are  begin 
ning  to  go  to  American  doctors,  but  most  of  them 
dislike  to  because  of  the  larger  fee  and  the  differ 
ence  in  language.  One  Russian  showed  me  a  bright 
red  spray  which  had  been  prescribed  for  him  and 
said,  "That  comes  from  a  negro  doctor,  they  are 
better  than  other  Americans,  for  they  charge  less." 
I  asked  several  of  the  Russians  why  they  didn't  go 
to  the  free  wards.  They  replied,  "We  don't  care  to 
be  experimented  on,  like  dogs  and  chickens."  In 
telling  me  why  he  patronized  a  Jewish  dentist  rather 
than  an  American,  a  Russian  said,  "The  American 
takes  only  fifteen  minutes,  says  '  Hurry  up,  Hurry 
up — get  a  jump,'  the  Jew  takes  an  hour  and  charges 
same."  Another  Russian  told  me  that  he  had  a 
tooth  extracted  but  it  proved  to  be  the  wrong  one, 
so  he  went  back  to  the  American  dentist.  "Well,  I 
was  busy  and  didn't  know  what  I  was  doing,"  said 
the  dentist,  as  he  pulled  the  second  one.  Then  he 
charged  him  for  both  teeth.  On  the  whole,  the  Rus 
sians,  the  Ruthenians  and  other  races  have  a  cordial 
feeling  for  each  other,  but  they  do  not  mingle  much. 
The  second  generation  feel  more  or  less  their  soli 
darity  with  Americans  and  some  even  marry  into 
American  homes,  although  this  is  rare.  More  often 
they  marry  the  native-born  children  of  some  other 
Slavic  race. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  53 

Racial  prepossessions  and  aspirations.— The  Rus 
sian  and  Euthenian  are  both  thrifty,  they  try  to  save 
money.  They  are  willing  to  endure  any  conditions 
no  matter  how  bad,  and  will  work  uncomplainingly 
for  long  hours  at  low  wages.  Stolidity  is  inborn. 
The  Eussian  is  markedly  religious.  In  every  home 
you  see  an  ikon  or  sacred  picture.  As  to  the  church, 
he  may  be  skeptical;  he  is  often  suspicious  of  the 
priest,  who,  he  says,  is  out  for  money  first.  The 
love  of  music  is  a  well-known  characteristic;  the 
theater  is  popular  also.  The  Eussian  is  very  sympa 
thetic,  always  willing  to  contribute  to  the  needs  of 
those  who  are  suffering.  If  a  Eussian  is  killed  in 
the  mine  or  factory,  his  neighbors  will  care  for  the 
widow  and  children  even  though  they  themselves  are 
barely  making  both  ends  meet.  The  Eussian  is  natu 
rally  suspicious  of  others,  the  inevitable  and  bitter 
result  of  a  long  experience  under  the  corrupt  of 
ficials  of  the  Tsar.  None  the  less,  sociability  is  a 
marked  trait.  The  Eussian  likes  to  talk  by  the  hour 
to  his  friends  and  will  share  his  last  morsel  of  food 
with  a  stranger.  He  is  idealistic,  generous,  quickly 
responsive  to  the  higher  good,  and  willing  to  suffer 
to  bring  in  what  he  considers  an  ideal  for  the  com 
mon  welfare  even  at  great  cost  to  himself.  This  was 
well  illustrated  in  the  steel  strike  of  1920.  Thou 
sands  of  Eussians  used  up  every  cent  of  their  sav 
ings,  denied  themselves  the  food  they  needed,  suf 
fered  the  loss  of  work  and  imprisonment,  all  for  the 
general  good.  Yet  some  of  the  men  had  been  draw 
ing  very  high  wages  and  need  not  have  struck  from 
a  desire  to  better  their  position.  The  Eussian  does 
not  aspire  to  wealth,  but  he  does  want  to  get  away 
from  the  work  in  factory  and  mine  which  he  hates ; 
he  longs  to  get  back  on  the  farm.  Those  Eussians 
who  are  in  rural  work  and  are  making  a  success  of 
it  seem  to  be  contented. 


54      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 


SOCIAL  ORGANIZATIONS  AND  FORCES 

Destructive.— There  is  no  outstanding  wholly  de 
structive  force  among  the  Russians  themselves. 

Until  the  United  States  started  its  raids  there 
were  scores  of  Eussian  branches  of  the  Socialist 
and  Communist  party  scattered  over  America. 
Hanging  on  the  wall  of  one  club  visited  in  Decem 
ber,  1919,  at  Boston,  was  the  certificate  of  incorpora 
tion  which  read,  ' l  Mutual  Aid  Association  of  Work 
men  from  Eussia  for  the  purpose  of  paying  death 
or  funeral  benefits  not  exceeding  two  hundred  dol 
lars,  and  disability  benefits  not  exceeding  ten  dollars 
per  week.  The  association  shall  maintain  a  library 
and  conduct  lectures  for  the  purpose  of  educating  its 
members  and  also  assist  them  in  raising  the  stand 
ard  of  their  living.  The  membership  is  limited  to 
persons  of  Eussian  birth  or  descent. "  The  charter 
was  granted  by  the  State  of  Massachusetts  on  De 
cember  6,  1915. 

On  the  walls  were  pictures  of  all  the  Eussian  revo 
lutionary  leaders,  Gorky,  Lenin,  Trotsky  and  others. 
Besides,  there  was  a  certificate  of  membership  in 
the  Communist  party.  The  club  had  both  men  and 
women  members.  They  had  classes  in  both  Eussian 
and  arithmetic.  The  library  had  many  standard 
Eussian  books,  besides  all  the  leading  Eussian  daily 
newspapers.  A  buffet  which  served  soft  drinks 
actually  paid  for  the  rent  of  the  room,  which  was 
twenty  dollars  a  month.  The  club  also  maintained 
a  school  for  the  children  of  members  which  met  three 
times  a  week.  As  far  as  I  could  judge,  although  the 
club  included  the  political,  it  also  met  a  legitimate 
social  and  educational  need,  and  to  that  extent  was 
constructive.  After  listening  for  hours  to  study 
classes  in  the  various  Communist  clubs,  I  must  admit 
that  they  do  seriously  attempt  to  teach  their  own 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  55 

members.  They  have  merit  in  that  they  do  not  go 
over  the  heads  of  the  illiterate  workers.  Still,  such 
clubs  also  have  lectures  which  stimulate  Bolshevism, 
and  there  is  little  doubt  that  part  of  the  propaganda 
work  now  going  on  in  the  club  we  have  described 
may  have  been  directed  against  our  political  system 
and  American  ideals.  There  are  few  social  agencies 
other  than  these,  however,  and  here  they  were  trying 
to  do  for  themselves  what  no  one  else  had  done 
for  them.  Whether  or  not  this  club  has  since  been 
broken  up  by  officers  of  the  Department  of  Justice, 
I  do  not  know.  I  do  believe,  however,  that  to  de 
stroy  such  a  social  club  without  putting  something 
constructive  in  its  place  is  but  to  stimulate  Bol 
shevism. 

The  saloon  was  probably  the  most  potent  evil 
among  the  Russians  until  its  downfall  in  1920.  Since 
then  perhaps  the  most  deadly  agency  has  been  the 
clever  deceivers  of  the  ignorant  Russian  and 
Ruthenian.  These  are  not  only  the  communist  agi 
tators,  but  the  lying  doctors,  lawyers,  or  exploiters 
of  any  kind.  When  a  Russian  Jew,  or  any  other 
person,  organizes  an  association  to  relieve  the  dis 
tress  in  Russia  and  pockets  the  funds,  as  the  Rus 
sian  priests  have  cited  instances  to  me,  that  is  a 
destructive  force,  for  it  shatters  the  faith  of  the  Rus 
sian  in  America.  The  agitator  is  constantly  preach 
ing  to  him,  "Only  the  face  of  America  is  demo 
cratic  ";  he  recounts  instances  of  injustice  and  un- 
kindness  which  are  just  true  enough  to  win  over  the 
ignorant  Russian.  Moreover,  the  forces  of  political 
graft  make  more  strenuous  efforts  to  corrupt  the 
immigrant  than  the  forces  of  good  to  Americanize 
him.  Edward  A.  Steiner,  whose  experience  surely 
should  enable  him  to  speak  with  authority,  writes: 
"The  year  I  lived  in  Streator  (111.)  when  the  Slav 
had  no  vote  or  influence,  politics  in  that  city  were 
already  corrupt  and  the  corrupters  were  native 


56      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Americans,  whose  ancestors  harked  back  to  the  May 
flower  and  who  were  rewarded  for  their  corruption 
by  high  political  offices.  The  Slav  now  has  some 
political  power ;  but  as  yet  he  has  not  produced  the 
i grafter.'  I  do  not  say  he  will  not;  but  when  he 
does,  small  blame  to  him."  x 

Constructive.— The  Eussian  Church,  handicapped 
as  it  is  (see  Chap.  V),  is  one  of  the  big  constructive 
forces  in  the  life  of  the  Kussian.  The  brotherhoods 
of  the  church,  their  insurance  societies,  are  helping 
the  Russian  because  they  are  keeping  him  from  suf 
fering  in  times  of  disaster.  The  Eussian  educational 
clubs  and  the  little  Eussian  reading  rooms  which  are 
often  started  in  Eussian  colonies  are  constructive. 
Even  the  concert  and  dance,  when  properly  con 
ducted,  provide  necessary  recreation.  The  educa 
tional  forces  described  in  the  next  chapter  are  mak 
ing  as  large  a  contribution  as  any.  But  at  best  the 
constructive  social  forces  for  the  Eussian  are  woe 
fully  inadequate. 

The  Euthenians  have  stronger  local  clubs  and  so 
cieties;  they  attend  their  churches  regularly.  In 
some  places  they  even  have  Ukrainian  ' '  Homes ' '  or 
clubs,  and  consequently  have  somewhat  more  than 
the  Eussians.  The  latter  especially  feel  they  are 
aliens,  and  they  need  everything  that  we  can  do  for 
them  in  order  that  they,  in  turn,  may  become  socially 
valuable  as  well  as  industrially  so.  Among  the  chil 
dren  the  one  big  constructive  force  is  the  school. 
The  teacher  can  counteract  many  handicaps  in  the 
home  environment,  though  her  sphere  is  necessarily 
limited  by  the  number  of  hours  spent  each  day  in 
school  and  the  economic  pressure  which  puts  chil 
dren  to  work  at  the  earliest  age  legally  possible. 

We  have  seen  that  destructive  forces  assail  the 
Eussian  on  every  side,  while  constructive  forces 

1  Twenty-five  Years  with  the  New  Immigrant  in  Immigration  and 
Americanization,  by  Philip  Davis. 


SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  57 

function  so  weakly  that,  as  one  Kussian  Protestant 
pastor  said  in  a  statement  to  me :  ' t  Ninety-five  per 
cent  of  the  immigrants  do  not  understand  either  the 
Americans  or  their  institutions.  They  receive  their 
conceptions  about  America  from  the  hard  side.  They 
mingle  only  with  the  base  elements  and  from  them 
get  their  interpretation  of  America." 


Chapter  IV 
EDUCATIONAL  FORCES 

The  public  school.— In  the  1909  investigation  of 
the  United  States  Immigration  Commission  we  find 
that  in  only  seven  out  of  thirty-two  representative 
cities  are  there  over  200  Eussian  children  enrolled 
in  the  public  schools.  These  seven  are:  Boston, 
Chicago,  Los  Angeles,  Newark,  New  York,  Philadel 
phia  and  Yonkers.  Of  the  total  of  4,628  of  these 
children,  285  or  6.1  per  cent  were  in  the  kinder 
garten,  3,136  or  67.7  per  cent  in  the  primary  grades, 
988  or  21.3  per  cent  in  the  grammar  grades,  and  219 
or  only  4.7  per  cent  in  the  high  school.1  This  is 
about  the  same  as  the  total  for  all  the  foreign  nation 
alities  except  that  the  latter  have  about  10  per  cent 
larger  enrollment  in  the  grammar  grades  than  the 
Eussians.  Since  the  Eussian  immigration  is  newer, 
this  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  children  are 
younger.  According  to  the  same  authority,2  in  77 
higher  educational  institutions  in  the  United  States 
there  were  a  total  of  27  Eussians  or  .1  per  cent  of 
the  total  number  of  students.  The  figures  for  the 
Euthenians  in  the  public  schools  did  not  total  200 
in  any  city,  so  that  summaries  for  them  were  not 
given.  In  the  higher  educational  institutions  there 
was  only  one  Euthenian.  In  my  investigations  I 
found  that  generally  the  Euthenian  and  Eussian  chil 
dren  are  attending  the  public  schools  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  the  various  states.  This  does  not 

1  Abstract  of  Keport  of  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  II. 
Table  6,  p.  24. 
a/Znd.,  Table  53,  p.  78. 

58 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  59 

mean  to  say,  however,  that  some  of  the  parents  do 
not  take  the  children  out  of  school  before  the  law 
permits  when  there  is  lax  enforcement.  This  is  done 
to  some  extent,  particularly  among  the  poorest  fam 
ilies.  There  can  be  no  question  but  that  the  public 
schools  are  the  strongest  force  for  assimilation  that 
we  have.  Here  the  children  learn  of  American 
ideals,  they  are  taught  our  history  and  they  take 
part  in  our  flag-drills,  which  they  enjoy.  In  some  of 
the  cities  the  schools  have  been  turned  into  social 
centers  with  gymnasiums,  libraries  and  clubs,  and 
thus  become  a  still  greater  force  for  assimilation. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  our  public  schools  do  not 
also  teach  the  best  that  each  foreign  race  has  to 
offer.  True  Americanism  should  impart  not  only 
the  best  that  our  country  has,  but  also  the  best  cul 
ture  from  other  civilizations  that  our  own  may  be 
enriched  with  the  finest  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 
For  example,  we  should  make  the  Eussian  boy  feel 
proud  of  Bussia's  great  writers,  of  her  musicians 
and  men  of  science.  We  should  teach  him  that  his 
racial  heritage  is  such  that  he,  too,  should  contribute 
his  bit  to  America,  as  well  as  receive. 

Parochial  schools.— The  United  States  Census  of 
Eeligious  Bodies  for  1916  shows  that  the  Eussian 
Greek  Orthodox  Church  has  126  schools  with  150 
officers  and  teachers  and  6,739  students.  This  makes 
an  average  of  only  one  teacher  to  45  students  and 
even  then,  all  the  officers  are  counted  as  teachers 
which  is  not  the  fact.  Considering  the  number  of 
Eussians  in  the  United  States,  6,739  children  seems 
also  to  be  a  rather  small  proportion  of  the  total 
number.  Unfortunately  these  schools  have  not  been 
kept  free  of  politics.  They  have  usually  taken  an 
anti-Bolshevik  stand,  and  as  a  result  in  some  cases 
the  children  have  been  kept  at  home ;  in  Bronxville, 
NT.  Y.,  the  workmen  even  withdrew  their  children  and 
started  another  school  of  their  own.  The  writer 


60      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

found  in  visiting  the  various  cities  that  these  paro 
chial  schools  for  Eussians  did  not  attempt  to  take 
the  place  of  the  public  schools.  They  usually  met 
only  three  times  a  week  after  school  hours.  Many 
of  the  priests  frankly  admitted  that  the  main  pur 
pose  of  the  parochial  school  was  to  teach  the  chil 
dren  Eussian  and  to  preserve  their  religious  and 
Eussian  customs.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases 
they  constitute  a  force  working  against  assimi 
lation.  For  example,  in  the  official  Eussian-Ameri- 
can  Greek  Orthodox  Church  calendar  a  picture  de 
picting  the  history  of  the  United  States  is  included 
in  the  section  on  humor  (page  64).  This  is  just 
the  section  which  the  children  would  be  likely  to  read 
and  certainly  this  would  not  add  to  their  love  for  our 
country. 

The  Euthenians,  whose  churches  are  included  in 
the  Eoman  fold,  have  some  schools  which  attempt 
to  take  the  place  of  our  public  schools.  Usually  they 
are  not  adequately  manned  with  teachers.  The  pur 
pose  of  the  school  is  to  keep  the  children  loyal  to  the 
Catholic  faith,  but  unfortunately,  at  the  same  time 
they  also  work  against  Americanization.  When  the 
children  leave  the  parochial  school  they  are  far  be 
hind  the  other  children  who  have  been  in  the  public 
schools. 

Literature  and  newspapers.— Both  the  Euthenians 
and  the  Eussians  in  this  country  have  a  great  deal 
of  literature  in  their  native  tongue.  The  Eussian 
bookshops  are  full  of  the  works  of  classical  writers 
such  as  Tolstoy,  Turgenieif,  Pushkin,  Dostoevsky 
and  others.  The  public  libraries  of  many  of  our 
larger  cities  have  a  great  number  of  books  in  Eus 
sian  and  some  of  them  as,  for  example,  the  New 
York  Public  Library,  have  a  special  Slavic  depart 
ment.  Many  of  the  better  educated  Eussians  and 
Euthenians  are  using  these  facilities,  but  the  rank 
and  file  are  hardly  touched  by  them. 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  61 

On  the  other  hand  the  Russian  and  Ruthenian 
newspapers  reach  the  great  majority.  At  the  pres 
ent  time  the  chief  Russian  newspapers  are  the 
Eusski  Slovo,  which  takes  an  anti-Bolshevik  stand, 
and  the  Russki  Golos,  which  is  opposed  to  interven 
tion  in  Russia  and  is  generally  favorable  to  the  Bol 
sheviks.  The  Novi  Mir  was  suppressed  by  the  gov 
ernment  in  1920  for  being  too  Bolshevistic  in  sym 
pathy. 

The  Russian  Bureau  of  the  Foreign  Language 
Governmental  Information  Service  sent  out  a  letter 
and  questionnaire  to  Russians  in  the  United  States. 
They  received  a  total  of  198  replies  of  which  84  were 
from  unskilled  workers,  48  from  skilled  workers  and 
mechanics,  13  from  farmers,  13  from  miners,  9  from 
ministers,  11  from  educational  workers  and  the  rest 
were  miscellaneous.  In  answer  to  the  question,  "Do 
you  read  English  books  or  newspapers  V '  70  replied 
that  they  read  the  newspapers,  but  that  they  did  so 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  "  could  hardly  under 
stand  them. ' '  Only  three  read  books  and  magazines 
in  English.  These  answers  seem  highly  significant 
because  they  come  from  picked  Russians.  Any 
workman  who  would  reply  to  such  a  letter  must  nec 
essarily  be  literate  and  many  of  them  are  skilled 
workers.  The  startling  fact  is  that  among  these 
people  only  three  read  American  magazines  and 
books,  and  most  of  those  who  read  English  news 
papers  admit  they  cannot  understand  them.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Russian  newspapers  are  read  widely. 
I  have  often  seen  in  a  Communistic  club  one  intel 
ligent  Russian  worker  reading  the  Russian  paper  to 
half  a  dozen  illiterate  comrades.  All  the  workmen 's 
clubs  carry  Russian  papers,  hence  their  influence  is 
most  widespread.  In  order  that  the  reader  can 
gather  something  of  the  attitude  of  these  papers,  let 
me  quote  from  each  of  the  chief  Russian  New  York 
papers,  including  the  now  suspended  Novi  Mir. 


62      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 


Novi  Mir,  Nov.  21,  1917 

(A  Translation) 

"The  Eussian  immigrant  feels  lonesome  in 
America. ' ' 

"He  has  no  friends,  and  there  are  no  social  cen 
ters  for  him  through  which  he  can  gain  friends.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  American  life  to  the  Russian 
immigrant  seems  to  be  dull  and  gray.  He  works, 
eats  and  sleeps,  and  takes  a  stroll  on  holidays;  but 
he  walks  with  a  sad  face  and  does  not  seem  to  enjoy 
life. 

In  moments  of  distress  or  doubt  he  has  no  one 
to  confide  in  or  no  one  from  whom  he  can  secure 
moral  support. 

He  is  exploited  by  everyone  who  is  not  too  lazy  to 
take  advantage  of  him — by  the  banker,  by  the  doc 
tor  and  by  the  lawyer  charlatan,  and  by  every  clever 
man  who  knows  how  to  'fish  in  muddy  water.'  He 
stands  alone  in  the  social  life — helpless." 

EussU  Golos,  April  10,  1920 

(A  Translation) 
"Do  you  like  America? " 

"  'If  you  don't — get  out/  says  the  landlord  to  his 
tenant.  Masters  of  American  land — they  are  the 
landlords  too.  What  they  are  used  to  saying  to 
their  tenants,  they  say  to  the  immigrant  masses.  By 
their  order  articles  are  written  in  newspapers  which 
are  read  all  over  the  country.  They  dictate  the 
words  that  are  shown  in  brilliant  letters  on  the 
screen  in  moving  pictures.  Every  day  these  words 
stand  before  the  people's  eyes,  are  whispered  in 
their  ears.  They  poison  the  soul  of  the  American 
people  with  spite  and  stupid  arrogance.  These  of 
fensive  words  are  daily  thrown  into  the  newcomer's 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  63 

— immigrant's  face.  'If  you  don't  like  it — get  out,' 
says  the  landlord  to  his  tenant.  'If  you  don't  like 
this  country — get  out,'  shout  the  capitalistic  news 
papers  and  moving  pictures  to  the  immigrant  la 
borer. 

'Get  out  from  here,'  is  told  to  the  immigrant. 
These  words  are  not  only  stupid,  they  are  false.  If 
millions  of  workmen,  who  came  here  from  Europe 
will  leave  the  United  States,  America's  strength  and 
wealth  will  vanish.  In  the  big  theaters  among  dan 
cing  and  other  entertainments  you  see  these  same 
words  on  the  screen :  *  If  you  don 't  like  this  country 
— get  out.'  Many  would  like  to  get  out  and  will  do 
it  as  soon  as  possible.  But  is  it  true  that  we  do  not 
like  this  country?  We  like  this  country  as  any 
country.  Here  also  the  sun  shines,  the  woods  mur 
mur  and  the  rivers  flow.  This  country  is  a  good  field 
for  human  labor.  As  everywhere  else,  here  are  peo 
ple  humiliated  by  the  strong  ones.  As  everywhere 
else  the  money  bag  is  ruling. 

It  is  not  that  we  do  not  like  America.  We  do  not 
like  the  great  amount  of  violence  and  falsehood  that 
is  in  America.  We  do  not  like  it  that  in  America  are 
stupid  people.  They  are  among  those  who  throw 
in  the  face  of  the  Russian  and  European  workman, 
who  have  helped  to  create  the  wealth  of  America, 
the  offensive  words,  'Get  out  from  here.'  " 

RussJci  Slovo,  Dec.  1, 1919 
(A  Translation) 

"In  one  of  the  big  naphtha  factories  in  Brooklyn, 
two  Russian  workmen  were  discharged  only  because 
they  talked  to  other  workers  during  the  intermis 
sion.  The  Superintendent  decided  they  were  'dan 
gerous  agitators';  in  reality,  they  were  calm  and 
quiet  and  took  no  part  in  politics." 


64      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

EussU  Slovo,  Dec.  24, 1920 
(A  Translation) 

"America  is  not  at  all  interested  in  the  soul  and 
spiritual  life  of  the  Russian  immigrant,  only  in  his 
muscles.  He  came  to  this  country  a  stranger  and 
often  leaves  it  again  without  any  American  know 
ing  him  at  all.  It  is  therefore  very  unjust  to  accuse 
him  of  disloyalty,  ingratitude  and  revolt. " 

Nearly  all  these  articles  would  tend  to  antagonize 
the  reader  against  the  American  people  and  yet  for 
the  Russian  there  is  much  of  justice  in  the  view 
points.  Besides  these  papers  there  are  the  still 
more  radical  I.  W.  W.  ones  printed  in  Russian  at 
Chicago  such  as  The  Voice  of  Labor.  These  have 
daily  cartoons  which,  for  example,  depict  the  cap 
italist  as  a  shark  devouring  the  worker,  with  the 
I.  W.  W.  coming  to  the  rescue  with  direct  action. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  newspapers  such  as  the 
RussJci  Slovo  and  the  Russki  Golos  do  print  mate 
rial  which  would  definitely  help  the  foreigner  to  un 
derstand  America,  but  it  is  almost  infinitesimal  com 
pared  to  what  it  might  be  if  more  definite  coopera 
tion  were  given  to  the  newspapers  by  social  and  re 
ligious  agencies.  Recently  the  Inter-Racial  Council 
has,  I  believe,  done  something  in  this  direction  by 
buying  up  advertising  space. 

Leadership.— The  leadership  of  the  Ruthenians  is 
pretty  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  priests  and  the 
heads  of  local  and  fraternal  organizations.  They 
seem,  on  the  whole,  to  be  very  able  and  capable. 

Among  the  Russians  there  is  such  conflicting  lead 
ership  that  as  one  of  their  workmen  said,  "Every 
Russian  his  own  leader,  only  Bolsheviks  united. " 
Nevertheless,  there  are  certain  men  who  stand  out 
from  the  others.  The  priests  have  been  at  the  head 


-:-^^^ 


HISTORY 


T°HrEl)NITi:D  STATES 


TURNING  THE  TABLES   ON   UNCLE  SAM 

One  pnjare  from  the  Humorous  vSection  of  the  official  Russian-American  Greek 
Orthodox  Church  calendar.  [,SV<j  i>«ge 


THKIR   VIEW   OF   AMERICANIZATION 

Russian  Workers  carry  banners  endorsing-  both  President  Wilson  and  the  Soviets  in  the 
Americanization  parade  in  Pittsburgh  July  4,  1918. 

I  Sec  pctf/c  1.". 


MPTBVHTE  B  mm  IHMHTHHECKHX 


A   RUSSIAN   POSTER    (DETROIT   1920) 

"Give  to  the  fund  for  the  politically  imprisoned." 


\See  page  93 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  65 

of  their  religious  groups,  but  today  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  Russians  do  not  accept  their  leadership  be 
cause  they  are  too  conservative.  Fully  90  per  cent 
of  the  Russians  in  the  United  States  are  workmen 
and  they  either  trust  nobody  or  else  they  look  to 
those  prominent  in  their  workers'  clubs.  Naturally 
these  men  are  very  sympathetic  with  the  Bolshevik 
experiment  in  Russia.  They  have  not  been  there, 
but  they  know  it  is  a  workingman's  government  and 
they  are  workingmen.  The  radical  Bolshevik  pro 
pagandist  and  the  Russian  I.  W.  W.  leader  conse 
quently  exert  a  good  deal  of  influence  among  certain 
numbers  of  the  Russians.  These  are  not  always  the 
unthinking;  most  often  they  are  the  men  who  have 
become  embittered  by  some  harsh  experience  here.. 
Besides  these  radical  leaders,  one  usually  finds  some 
Russian  who  through  hard  work  and  friendly  deal 
ing  with  his  fellow-countrymen  has  gained  prestige. 
He  often  lends  money  to  the  Russian  who  has  met 
with  misfortune  and,  more  often  still,  gives  advice. 
The  intellectual  and  professional  Russians  have  lost 
much  of  their  prestige  because,  for  the  most  part, 
they  have  been  such  bitter  propagandists  for  Kol- 
chak,  Denikine,  and  the  other  anti-Bolshevik  mili 
tary  leaders.  The  editors  of  the  various  Russian 
papers  probably  wield  more  influence  than  anyone 
else  today,  and  next  to  them  come  the  heads  of  the 
various  workingmen's  clubs,  including  the  heads  of 
the  branches  of  the  Communist  Party. 

FOKCES  IN  ASSIMILATION 

Agencies.— The  greatest  assimilating  agency  that 
we  have  in  America  is  the  public  school.  Jane  Ad- 
dams  says  that  the  only  service  America  is  thor 
oughly  equipped  to  offer  the  immigrant  and  his  chil 
dren  is  free  education.  When  we  consider  that  in 
1910,  according  to  the  census,  over  one-fourth  of  the 


66     RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

children  in  our  schools  were  of  foreign  or  mixed 
parentage,  we  can  imagine  something  of  the  service 
we  are  rendering  the  foreigner  in  this  way. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  its  work  in  the  factories  and 
among  the  foreign-born,  has  frequently  rendered 
notable  service  for  the  Eussians  and  Euthenians. 
In  this  connection  the  work  of  Mr.  Harvey  Ander 
son  in  New  York,  and  Mr.  Theo.  G.  Demburg  in 
Philadelphia,  has  been  especially  significant.  They 
have  organized  lectures,  classes,  and  information 
bureaus  for  the  foreigner,  besides  cooperating  with 
every  other  agency  in  the  city. 

The  Y.  W.  C.  A.  in  its  International  Institutes  has 
also  been  making  a  big  contribution.  For  example, 
in  Pittsburgh  it  has  an  information  service  with  a 
paid  Eussian  worker.  Any  Eussian  or  Euthenian 
who  needs  advice  or  help  can  receive  it  there.  Be 
sides  this,  they  conduct  classes  in  English  right  in 
the  factory  districts  where  the  Eussians  live. 

The  Foreign  Language  Governmental  Informa 
tion  Bureau,  organized  by  the  Committee  of  Public 
Information  of  the  Government,  and  now  affiliated 
with  the  Eed  Cross,  has  been  giving  excellent  help 
as  a  connecting  link  between  the  government  and 
the  alien.  At  first  it  sent  bulletins  to  the  Eussian 
papers  giving  material  relating  chiefly  to  the  war; 
later  it  began  to  give  information  to  Eussians  in 
general.  It  interpreted  our  laws  to  them  and  was 
the  means  of  saving  thousands  of  dollars  of  income 
taxes  wrongly  collected  from  Eussians.  It  has  also 
translated  books  on  hygiene,  technical  works,  his 
tories  of  the  United  States,  works  on  citizenship  and 
historical  plays  for  the  free  use  of  foreign  language 
schools,  churches  and  societies.  Moreover,  it  has 
sent  Eussian  lecturers  to  all  parts  of  America  who 
speak  in  Bolshevik  clubs,  workmen's  halls  and  other 
meeting  places,  on  such  subjects  as  American  Ideals 
or  Abraham  Lincoln. 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  67 

During  and  since  the  war,  Americanization  Com 
mittees  have  had  a  mushroom  growth.  While  there 
is  no  doubt  that  they  have  helped  the  foreigners 
tremendously,  they  have  not  touched  the  life  of  the 
Eussian  as  much  as  the  other  nationalities.  For 
example,  an  investigator  of  Russian  conditions  for  a 
department  of  our  government  says,  "The  Pitts 
burgh  Public  School  authorities  are  carrying  on 
Americanization  campaigns,  aided  by  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  which  ever  so  often  invite  the  '  lead 
ers'  of  the  foreign-born  to  a  dinner.  So  far  as  the 
Eussians  are  concerned  the  results  of  this  work  are 
invisible. "  Mr.  George  Creel,  head  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Public  Information  of  the  Government  during 
the  war,  says,1  "Americanization  activities  have 
largely  been  stupid  when  they  were  not  malignant. 
.  .  .  The  sinister  attempts  of  employers  to  identify 
Americanization  with  industrial  submissiveness  are 
with  us  today  as  in  the  past."  A  Eussian  priest  in 
Cleveland  expressed  his  feelings  about  the  Ameri 
canization  work  by  saying,  "If  I  came  to  Eussia 
and  they  made  me  disown  everything  dear  to  me 
and  swear  I  loved  hard  work  in  the  factory  and  bad 
housing  I  would  never  become  a  Eussian. "  Mr. 
Sibray,  the  United  States  Immigration  Commis 
sioner  in  Pittsburgh,  says,  "Our  Americanization 
Committees  are  largely  a  sham.  On  the  average 
they  think  merely  of  getting  the  foreigner  to  take 
out  citizenship  and  that  is  the  last  thing  that  ought 
to  be  done."  I  sent  a  Eussian  officer  to  make  a 
thorough  study  of  the  Eussians  in  Cleveland  and 
asked  him  to  visit  the  Americanization  Committee 
because  it  has  done  notable  work  for  many  of  the 
nationalities.  In  his  report  to  me  after  questioning 
what  the  committee  had  done  for  the  Eussians,  he 
said,  "In  my  judgment  this  office  exists  for  giving 
to  some  persons  some  jobs,  but  not  getting  exact 

1  Foreign  Born,  January,  1920,  p.  19. 


68      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

information. '  '  No  doubt  the  Russians  at  the  present 
time  are  very  difficult  to  reach  because  of  what  they 
have  suffered  from  the  fact  that  the  public  have  as 
sociated  them  with  the  Bolsheviks  in  Russia.  The 
Americanization  Committees  are  contending  with 
the  colossal  problem  of  the  alien  and  have  naturally 
confined  their  efforts  to  the  nationalities  that  re 
sponded  best. 

Government  commissions  such  as  the  California 
Immigration  Commission  have  done  inestimable 
good  in  giving  information  to  Russians  and  Rutheni- 
ans  and  forcing  Americans  to  improve  working  con 
ditions  for  their  employees.  Indeed,  one  of  the  big 
gest  tasks  in  assimilation  is  the  education  of  the 
American  employer  in  his  responsibility  toward  the 
workmen. 

The  American  labor  unions  are  doing  a  great  deal 
toward  helping  to  assimilate  the  Russians  and 
Ruthenians.  For  example,  the  United  Mine  Work 
ers  of  America  have  Russian  and  Ruthenian  organ 
izers  and  every  alien  member  has  the  same  privi 
leges  and  benefits  as  do  the  Americans.  At  the  meet 
ings  there  are  foreign  speakers,  and  in  the  weekly 
journal  there  is  one  page  printed  in  Slavic. 

A  very  good  type  of  work  being  carried  on  by  Rus 
sians  is  that  of  the  Russian  Collegiate  Institute  in 
New  York  City.  This  work  received  a  grant  of 
$10,000  from  the  Carnegie  Foundation  and  raised 
$6,000  from  other  sources.  Its  purpose  is  "to  offer 
to  Russian  workmen  within  a  small  radius  of  New 
York  City  useful  knowledge  which  will  enable  them 
to  better  their  economic  and  social  position/' *  All 
political  subjects  are  forbidden  and  the  school  is 
open  to  all,  whether  pro-  or  anti-Bolshevik.  "The 
institute  is  divided  into  three  departments: 
(1)  preparatory  or  night  school,  (2)  academic,  and 

1  From  an  article  by  Alexander  Petrunkevich,  the  President  of  the 
Institute,  in  The  Standard,  February,  1920. 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  69 

(3)  technical.  The  night  school  prepares  the  work 
man  for  entrance  into  such  institutions  as  Cooper 
Union.  Instruction  is  given  two  hours  every  eve 
ning  except  Saturday  and  Sunday.  The  subjects 
taught  are,  English,  Russian,  geography,  history, 
arithmetic,  algebra,  trigonometry,  physics  and  chem 
istry."  Besides  the  courses,  the  institute  is  carry 
ing  on  lectures  before  larger  groups  than  can  attend 
the  classes. 

A  similar  school,  called  the  Eussian  People 's  Uni 
versity,  was  started  in  Chicago  with  a  foundation  of 
$10,000,  contributed  by  interested  Russians.  It  also 
has  adopted  a  non-political  attitude.  In  May,  1919, 
it  had  an  enrollment  of  about  eighty.  The  course  in 
agriculture  proved  to  be  the  most  popular,  since 
many  Russians  desire  to  prepare  for  such  work  in 
Russia.  Undoubtedly  all  this  is  doing  much  toward 
giving  the  Russian  workman  a  fairer  and  better  view 
of  America.  The  work  of  the  churches  will  be  con 
sidered  in  another  chapter. 

Use  of  languages.— The  figures  of  the  Immigra 
tion  Commission  for  7,390  Russians  1  show  that  29.5 
per  cent  can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  25.5  per  cent 
cannot  read.  In  the  case  of  the  Ruthenians,  from 
888  cases  37.4  per  cent  can  neither  read  or  write  and 
34.2  per  cent  cannot  read.  The  illiteracy  of  Rus 
sians  entering  this  country  for  the  five  years  from 
1910-1914,  when  the  war  stopped  immigration, 
roughly  averaged  35  per  cent  and  in  the  case  of  the 
Ruthenians  41.2  per  cent.2  As  the  average  Russian 
on  entering  the  United  States  would  probably  claim 
he  was  literate  if  he  could  read  anything  at  all, 
these  figures  are  probably  low.  If  then,  over  one- 
third  of  the  Russians  are  illiterate,  it  is  not  strange 
that  they  do  not  learn  English,  especially  when  it 
is  realized  that  they  are  practically  isolated  from 


1  Abstract,  Vol.  I,  Table  77,  p.  438. 

'  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Immigration  Annual  Reports. 


70      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Americans  and  they  live,  sleep  and  work  together. 
Even  so,  the  Eussian  will  use  American  words  inter 
mingled  with  his  Eussian, — "job,"  "boss," 
"rooms,"  "shoes,"  "piecework,"  "pay  day,"  "big 
stiff,"  "policeman";  profane  words  are  even  more 
common. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that  in  one 
inquiry,  out  of  198  literate  Eussians  only  3  read 
English  books  and  magazines.  But  since  an  aver 
age  of  35  per  cent  are  illiterate  and  a  much  larger 
number  can  read  but  little  in  their  own  language, 
how  can  we  expect  them  to  read  English?  In  Mr. 
Cole's  study  in  Chicago,  out  of  112  Eussian  work 
men,  80  said  they  could  speak  some  English,  but 
only  12  claimed  to  be  able  to  read  it  and  in  the  case 
of  these  12  no  test  was  made.  The  fact  is  we  have 
done  little  to  help  the  Eussian  learn  English.  Even 
the  night  schools,  as  Professor  Petrunkevich,  a  Eus 
sian  professor  at  Yale  University  says,  "although 
ostensibly  for  the  benefit  and  instruction  of  unedu 
cated  and  foreign  workmen,  are  as  they  are  at  pres 
ent  constituted,  in  reality  of  very  little  help.  The 
Eussian  workman  has  first  to  learn  English  before 
he  can  understand  instruction  in  other  subjects ;  but 
even  in  this,  he  becomes  quickly  discouraged.  He  is 
a  stranger  to  the  teacher  who  does  not  take  into 
account  his  peculiar  psychology.  A  few  days,  per 
haps  a  few  weeks  of  most  strenuous  work  in  the 
evening  after  the  day's  work  at  the  factory,  and 
the  Eussian  workman  gives  up  in  despair. ' ' x  Since 
these  are  the  facts,  we  must  make  use  of  the  Eussian 
and  Euthenian  language  for  lectures  and  for  printed 
matter  on  America,  if  we  are  to  have  any  degree  of 
success  in  this  gigantic  task  of  assimilation. 

Use  of  racial  sentiment.— A  great  deal  can  be  done 
by  appealing  to  the  Eussian  to  prepare  himself  to 
return  and  build  up  his  own  country  along  the  best 

1  The  Standard,  February,  1920. 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  71 

lines.  Whether  he  is  a  Bolshevik  or  an  I.  W.  W., 
if  he  is  sincere,  he  wants  to  make  his  native  land  the 
finest  in  the  world.  If  he  can  be  appealed  to  from 
this  angle,  he  may  later  change  his  views  and 
even  take  put  citizenship  papers.  This  has  actually 
happened  in  the  Protestant  church  work  among  Rus 
sians  in  this  country. 

Learning  the  American  mind.— No  Eussian  or 
Ruthenian  can  learn  much  of  the  American  mind 
without  having  points  of  contact  with  Americans. 
As  we  will  show  in  Chapter  VII,  for  the  Russian 
especially,  these  are  woefully  few,  and  often  are  only 
with  the  harmful  elements  of  our  life.  Probably  the 
agencies  which  are  actually  touching  the  foreigner 
such  as  the  public  schools,  the  social  and  civic  or 
ganizations,  the  labor  unions,  and  the  religious 
bodies  are  doing  what  little  is  being  done  to  inter 
pret  to  him  the  America  which  lies  underneath  the 
huge  machine  that  he  sees. 

Naturalization.— Perhaps  the  extent  that  Russians 
are  learning  the  American  mind  is  somewhat  indi 
cated  by  the  number  becoming  naturalized  citizens. 
The  Immigration  Commission  in  its  investigation 
of  workers  in  1909  l  found  that  out  of  1,388  Rus 
sians,  15.1%  were  fully  naturalized  while  12.9%  had 
first  papers  only.  This  leaves  72%  who  had  not 
even  taken  out  their  first  papers.  The  same  investi 
gation  showed  that  out  of  161  Ruthenians,  8.7% 
were  fully  naturalized  and  11.2%  only  had  their 
first  papers,  making  a  total  of  80.1%  who  had  not 
even  taken  out  first  papers.  This  was  in  1909. 
Today  probably  even  fewer  of  the  Russians  desire 
citizenship. 

Mr.  Cole  in  his  Chicago  study  in  1919  found  that 
only  4  out  of  112  Russians  investigated  had  become 
citizens,  although  three  others  had  taken  out  their 

*  Abstract  of  Eeport  of  Immigrant  Commission,  Vol.  I,  Table  98, 
p.  484. 


72      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

first  papers.  In  my  investigations  I  found  many 
Eussians  who  had  taken  out  their  first  papers,  but 
who  openly  said  they  would  never  become  citizens. 
Indeed,  over  90%  of  the  Russians  say  they  wish  to 
return  to  Russia.  They  had  been  so  persecuted  by 
the  police  in  the  "red"  raids,  there  has  been  so 
much  vituperation  wasted  on  the  "  Bolsheviks "  and 
our  press  and  industrial  system  has  considered  every 
Russian  so  suspicious  that  we  cannot  wonder  if  they 
look  for  no  permanent  abiding  place  here.  We  have 
yet  to  make  the  masses  of  Russians  and  Ruthenians 
desire  citizenship  and  look  upon  it  as  an  honor. 

Results  as  reflected  by  war  service.— During  the 
war,  especially  after  the  Russian  revolution,  the 
Russians  and  Ruthenians  gave  loyal  and  enthusias 
tic  support  to  our  country.  They  subscribed  to  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  Liberty  Bonds,  they  enlisted 
in  the  army  and  the  great  majority  worked  in  the 
war  industries.  But  gradually  large  numbers  be 
came  embittered  because  of  their  war  experience. 
In  the  first  place,  they  did  not  like  the  way  in  which 
many  were  forced  to  subscribe  to  war  bonds.  Fre 
quently  they  were  warned  that  they  would  be  dis 
charged  if  they  did  not  subscribe ;  in  other  cases  the 
money  was  simply  deducted  from  their  wages.  The 
results  are  obvious.  After  the  revolution,  the  Rus 
sians  in  France  found  that  their  brother  soldiers 
from  Russia  who  had  been  fighting  with  French 
units  were  held  as  prisoners  and  were  refused  per 
mission  to  return  to  Russia  for  fear  they  might  aid 
the  Bolsheviks.  After  the  armistice  the  Russian 
prisoners  from  Germany  were  similarly  treated. 
Furthermore,  the  sending  of  United  States  troops 
including  Russians  into  Russia  to  fight  the  Bol 
sheviks  was  distinctly  unpopular.  All  these  meas 
ures  awoke  in  the  Russian  a  powerful  feeling  of  hos 
tility  and  bitterness.  In  the  place  of  his  former 
patriotism  there  sprang  up  a  strong  resentment 


EDUCATIONAL  FORCES  73 

against  America.  Some  of  the  Russians  who  had 
served  a  year  in  France  came  back  not  only  to  find 
their  old  jobs  gone,  but  also  to  be  refused  others 
simply  because  they  were  Russians.  Some  were 
imprisoned  for  two  months  on  the  suspicion  that 
they  were  Bolsheviks,  and  then  were  discharged  for 
lack  of  evidence.  Naturally  many  of  these  ex-serv 
ice  men  began  to  feel  that  all  America  had  wanted 
was  to  use  them  in  dangerous  fighting.  But  in  spite 
of  this  feeling,  the  Russian  does  desire  education. 
Out  of  198  letters  from  Russians  addressed  to  the 
Foreign  Language  Governmental  Information 
Bureau,  148  wanted  literature  in  Russian  on  agricul 
ture,  138  on  America,  136  on  labor  questions,  133  on 
social  and  political  questions  and  96  on  general  in 
formation.  The  following  extracts  from  a  few  of 
their  letters  will  show  their  deep  longing  for  educa 
tion:  "I  wanted  to  remain  in  America  forever,  but 
after  the  revolution  I  decided  to  go  back.  I  do  not 
want  to  go  back  with  an  empty  head ;  if  I  go  to  Russia 
I  want  to  help  the  Russian  peasantry,  and  therefore 
while  I  am  here  I  want  to  study  scientific  agricul 
ture.  I  want  to  become  what  I  have  decided  to  be, 
namely,  a  man  useful  to  humanity. "  "If  you  only 
can  satisfy  our  longing  to  learn  about  America, 
please  do  it,  but  do  it  of  course  in  the  Russian  lan 
guage,  ' '  writes  a  Russian  from  Gary,  Indiana.  An 
other  from  New  York  says,  "I  speak  very  bad  Eng 
lish.  Going  to  the  evening  school  did  not  do  me  any 
good.  In  these  schools  seven-eighths  of  all  the  time 
is  spent  in  preaching  patriotism  and  also  on  getting 
subscriptions  for  the  Liberty  Loans.  I  think  this  is 
not  right.  A  school  is  a  place  for  study  only."  A 
Russian  workman  from  Albany  writes :  i '  There  is  a 
great  desire  among  the  Russians  for  education.  It 
is  much  needed  now,  for  ignorance  leads  people  to 
Bolshevism  and  Anarchism.  But  though  there  is  a 
bureau  to  help  the  Russians  in  America,  nothing  was 


74      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

done  to  help  their  education  in  Albany,  N.  Y.  Here 
the  Russian  colony  tried  to  create  a  Union  of  Rus 
sian  Citizens  for  purely  educational  purposes  and 
without  any  political  aims.  But  the  police  did  not 
like  it  and  did  not  allow  it  to  meet  for  conferences 
and  lectures." 


Chapter  V 
RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS 

Old  country  faiths  and  churches  retained.— It  will 
be  remembered  that  the  Uniat  Church  is  made  up 
of  members  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  faith  who  ef 
fected  a  compromise  with  Rome  in  1595.  The  Pope 
was  so  anxious  to  secure  their  allegiance  that  he  is 
sued  the  bull,  "Magnus  Dominus,"  in  that  year. 
This  permitted  the  Slavic  liturgy,  the  administra 
tion  of  the  Sacrament  in  both  kinds  to  the  laity,  and 
the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  The  churches  that  ac 
cepted  this  compromise  are  called  Uniat,  or  the 
United  Greek  Church,  although  they  are  officially 
named  The  Greek  Catholic  Church.  The  Ruthenians 
from  Galicia  are  mostly  Uniats,  while  those  from 
Bukowina  are  nearly  all  Orthodox.  They  all  are 
very  religious  and  loyally  support  their  churches. 
In  many  of  the  Pennsylvania  towns  one  finds  that 
the  finest  church  in  the  community  is  the  Uniat.  Un 
til  the  Russian  revolution  there  was  a  tendency  on 
the  part  of  many  of  the  Uniats  to  break  away  from 
the  Catholic  faith.  The  great  difference  between 
the  Uniats,  with  their  married  clergy,  and  the  Irish, 
Polish,  German  and  American  Catholics,  with  their 
celibate  clergy,  was  so  great  that  relations  between 
them  were  not  over  cordial. 

Today  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church  is  in  financial 
difficulties  and  some  Orthodox  churches  are  going 
back  into  the  Uniat  fold.  According  to  the  United 
States  Census  of  Religious  Bodies  in  1916  the 
Roman  Catholics  have  69  churches  for  Ruthenians 

75 


76      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

with  a  membership  of  72,393.  It  has  been  my  experi 
ence  in  visiting  Euthenian  religious  services  to  find 
them  very  well  attended.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
great  numbers  of  Euthenians  retain  their  faith  in 
the  mother  church.  This  is  not  so  true  of  scattered 
rural  settlements  where  a  church  is  not  available. 
When,  however,  a  great  number  of  Euthenians  have 
settled,  they  usually  secure  a  priest  and  build  a 
church. 

The  Greek  Orthodox  Church  is  very  much  larger 
than  the  Uniat,  for  it  includes  both  Eussians  and 
Euthenians.  Furthermore,  until  the  revolution  it 
received  very  substantial  support  from  the  Tsar's 
government.  According  to  the  1916  Census,  it  had 
169  churches  with  99,681  members  in  this  country. 
Since  the  revolution,  the  strength  of  the  Greek  Or 
thodox  Church  has  considerably  diminished.  One 
of  her  priests  in  Pennsylvania  told  me  that  90%  of 
the  Eussians  in  America  are  untouched  by  the 
church,  except  at  Christmas,  Easter  and  on  the  occa 
sions  of  their  weddings.  The  growing  indifference 
of  the  workmen  to  the  church  has  resulted  in  great 
financial  difficulty,  and  in  some  localities  churches 
have  been  abandoned.  In  one  place  in  Pennsylvania 
the  priest  has  kept  a  substantial  income  by  cooperat 
ing  with  the  mine  owners.  One-half  a  day 's  wage  of 
every  Eussian  is  deducted  monthly  by  the  company 
and  turned  over  to  the  priest.  Unfortunately,  most 
of  the  priests  have  found  that  the  companies  feve 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  appeals  for  help.  Even 
in  the  case  of  the  priest  mentioned  above,  he  has  to 
pay  a  heavy  rent  for  the  use  of  company  land  for 
his  school  building,  and  the  customary  discount  on 
the  price  of  coal  granted  to  the  mine  workers  is  not 
extended  to  the  church. 

The  deeply  religious  nature  of  the  Eussian  people 
has  been  aptly  expressed  by  Stephen  Graham :  ' '  The 
Eussians  are  always  en  route  for  some  place  where 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  77 

they  may  find  out  something  about  God."  In  Rus 
sia  they  are  continually  crossing  themselves  and  re 
peating  "Guspody  Pomiluy" — "Lord  be  merciful "; 
but  here  in  America  they  gradually  forget  some  of 
the  outward  forms.  Nevertheless,  one  can  see  even 
in  their  everyday  speech  a  sympathy  for  the  un 
fortunate  and  a  forgiving  spirit  which  is  of  the 
essence  of  religion.  For  example,  if  a  man  is  ar 
rested  he  is  not  called  wicked  but  "neschastny"  or 
unlucky.  One  of  their  common  expressions  at  part 
ing  is  "proGchai,"  or  forgive.  A  few  of  their  pro 
verbs  will  further  illustrate  this  depth  of  religious 
feeling : 

"God  who  gave  us  teeth,  he  will  also  give  us  the 

bread." 

"God  gave  us  the  body,  he  will  also  give  us 

health." 

"Where  there  is  love,  there  is  also  God." 

"Who  riseth  early,  to  him  God  gives." 

"The  church  is  not  built  of  logs,  but  of  (human) 

ribs." 

1 1  The  evil  man  is  like  charcoal,  if  he  does  not  burn 

you  he  blackens  you. ' ' 

Religious  feeling  where  ignorance  is  also  present 
inevitably  takes  on  superstitious  practices,  and  we 
could  not  expect  that  the  masses  of  Russian  people 
who  have  been  so  shut  out  from  all  enlightenment 
would  be  any  exception  to  the  rule.  But  even  the 
superstitions  show  a  deep  sense  of  the  presence  of 
God  in  life.  A  friend  of  mine  in  Russia  once  noticed 
that  the  people  try  to  stop  the  spread  of  fire  by 
placing  the  ikon,  or  religious  picture,  between  th& 
fire  and  the  next  house.  And  when  they  leave  the 
old  homes  to  journey  into  a  far  country,  they  bring 
with  them  these  same  sacred  ikons.  In  America 
nearly  every  room  has  its  sacred  ikon  and  most  of 


78      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

the  Eussians  still  continue  to  wear  baptismal 
crosses.  Two  Eussians  who  had  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  steel  strike  and  had  only  hard  words  for 
the  church,  still  believe  in  God  and  venerate  those 
things  which  stand  for  Him  to  them  and  had  the 
ikon  of  Christ  with  the  wreath  of  thorns  in  a  corner 
of  their  room.  A  Eussian  Orthodox  priest  in  Brook 
lyn  told  me  that  75%  of  the  Eussian  workmen  are 
opposed  to  the  church,  although  they  believe  in  God. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  outstanding  facts  regarding  the 
Eussian  workmen  is  that  while  they  are  skeptical 
about  the  church  they  still  worship  in  their  hearts 
the  divine  personality,  which,  they  feel,  the  church 
does  not  honestly  represent  and  serve. 

The  second  generation  of  Eussians  and  Euthe- 
nians  tend  even  more  to  forsake  their  old-country 
faith.  In  the  first  place,  they  speak  and  read  Eng 
lish  much  better  than  Eussian.  Still  less  do  many 
of  them  understand  the  Slavic  services.  The  result 
is  that  while  the  more  religious  parents  take  their 
children  to  the  church,  as  the  children  grow  older 
they  tend  to  be  less  and  less  attracted  by  it.  Sev 
eral  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  priests  admitted  to  me 
that  they  could  not  hold  the  second  generation  and 
that  if  they  are  to  keep  the  native-born  Eussians, 
they  will  have  to  conduct  their  services  in  English. 

Forms  of  religious  break-up.— The  Greek  Ortho 
dox  Church  is  not  so  organized  as  readily  to  adapt 
itself  to  change.  Indeed,  its  greatest  boast  is  that 
it  has  never  changed  the  doctrines  of  the  universal 
church  as  established  by  the  ecumenical  councils.  It 
attacks  both  Protestantism  and  Eoman  Catholicism 
on  the  ground  that  they  continually  change  to  meet 
new  and  temporary  needs.  In  a  letter  of  the  Eussian 
Bishop  Nicholas,  head  of  the  Orthodox  Mission  to 
Japan,  this  is  clearly  brought  out:  "It  is  the  Or 
thodox  Church  alone  which  can  give  to  drink  from 
the  fount  of  the  sweetness  of  the  word  of  God,  to 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  79 

those  who  come  to  her  for  she  alone  has  preserved 
the  divine  doctrine  just  as  it  was  committed  to  her, 
and  will  preserve  it  unchanged  to  the  end  of  the 
ages,  without  adding  to  or  taking  from  it  a  single 
iota."1 

As  a  result  of  this  principle,  the  Orthodox  Church 
has  a  tendency  to  prove  unadaptable  to  American 
conditions  arid,  as  a  whole,  the  church  in  America 
follows  exactly  the  leadership  of  the  church  in  Eus- 
sia.  Consequently,  although  it  is  so  sorely  needed, 
they  are  doing  but  little  social  service  work.  The 
Eussian  workman  is  now  in  a  new  world  with  a  thou 
sand  new  ideas  thrust  in  upon  him  daily.  He  is 
meeting  those  who  scoff  at  religion  and  is  constantly 
being  exploited.  He  needs  social  help  and  legal  and 
medical  aid,  but  his  church  does  not  adequately  meet 
this  need  of  Christianity  applied  to  a  changing  so 
cial  order.  As  soon  as  the  Bolsheviks  took  the 
power,  the  priests  strove  by  sermon  and  pen  to  at 
tack  them.  One  Eussian  priest  in  Cleveland  handed 
out  circulars  urging  his  parishioners  to  volunteer 
to  fight  against  the  Bolsheviks.  This  again  antag 
onized  the  Eussian  workmen.  They  suspected  that 
this  policy  was  pursued  only  because  the  Bolsheviks 
were  socialistic  and  had  separated  the  church  from 
the  state. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  general  attitude,  some 
of  the  Eussian  workmen  became  atheists.  They  are 
always  careful,  however,  to  say  that  while  they  do 
not  believe  in  God  they  do  believe  in  the  religion  of 
humanity.  They  believe,  so  they  claim,  in  serving 
the  mass  of  the  workmen, — that  is  their  religion. 
Still  others,  and  much  the  larger  proportion,  are 
free  thinkers.  They  have  faith  in  God,  but  not  in 
the  church  as  constituted  today.  Many  of  them  be 
lieve  that  war  is  opposed  to  the  teachings  of  Christ 
— the  writings  of  Tolstoy  have  influenced  large  num- 

*The  italics  are  mine. 


80      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

bers  in  this.  Among  the  second  generation  of  Rus 
sians,  especially,  I  found  many  who  seemed  to  be 
drifting,  without  really  substituting  anything  in  the 
place  of  the  church.  These  people  are  waiting  for  a 
strong,  virile  religion,  whose  first  approach  shall  be 
through  ministering  to  the  needs  of  every  day. 

FOKMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  BE  ALIGN  ME  NTS 

Schismatics  and  sectarians.— It  is  estimated  that 
in  Eussia  there  are  between  fifteen  and  twenty  mil 
lion  sectarians.  The  great  schism  from  the  Ortho 
dox  Church  took  place  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  General  Council  of  the  Church  in 
1666  excommunicated  all  who  refused  to  accept  the 
revised  liturgy  and  those  who  were  thus  excom 
municated  became  known  as  the  Old  Believers.  They 
soon  split  into  those  who  had  no  priests — "priest- 
less  ' ' — and  those  who  had.  The  former  organized  a 
lay  leadership. 

Besides  this  chief  sect,  many  other  fanatical  ones 
sprang  up.  There  were  the  sects  of  "Wanderers," 
of  "  Molchalniki ' '  or  mutes,  who  believed  in  being  si 
lent;  the  sect  of  "Non-prayers,"  who  opposed  pray 
ing;  the  Jumpers,  who  worked  themselves  into  an 
ecstasy,  some  of  whom  became  licentious  and  some 
were  ascetics;  the  sect  of  "Skoptzy"  or  Eunuchs, 
who  believed  in  castration  and  held  that  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  would  take  place  when  their  mem 
bership  reached  the  mystic  number  of  144,000.  Be 
sides  these,  there  were  the  "Dukhobory"  or  "Wrest 
lers  of  the  Spirit."  They  refuse  to  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  the  Bible  and  believe  in  the  living  con 
science  within  the  hearts  of  men.  They  are  vege 
tarians,  pacifists  and  communists.  Another  sect, 
the  "Molokans,"  or  milk  drinkers,  have  a  strong 
following  in  Russia.  They  are  probably  so  named 
because  they  drink  milk  on  fast  days. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  81 

During  the  reign  of  Catherine  II,  German  colon 
ists  settled  in  South  Russia.  They  were  Baptists, 
Mennonites,  and  pietistic  Evangelicals.  Soon  many 
of  the  Russians  embraced  the  Baptist  faith.  They 
were  called  Stundists  after  the  German  Stunde,  for 
they  held  services  for  about  an  hour  in  length.  After 
the  revolution  of  1905  foreign  missionaries  were  per 
mitted  to  work  in  Russia.  The  Baptists  secured  the 
largest  number  of  converts;  their  present  member 
ship  exceeds  29,000  with  178  churches,  472  meeting 
places,  349  Sunday  schools  and  a  theological  sem 
inary.  The  Methodists  have  8  churches  and  6 
preachers  with  about  700  members. 

The  persecutions  which  many  of  these  sects  met 
in  Russia  were  the  cause  of  the  members'  emigrat 
ing  to  the  United  States.  In  North  Dakota  there 
are  today  about  10,000  Stundists.  When  these  Rus 
sian  Baptists  first  reached  North  Dakota  they  were 
very  poor  and  had  to  borrow  enough  for  a  start 
from  the  loan  companies  at  heavy  rates  of  interest. 
The  first  year  proved  disastrous,  as  the  crops  were 
a  failure.  The  Russians  were  penniless  and  without 
food.  A  friendly  American  placed  an  advertisement 
in  the  Minneapolis  papers  asking  for  help  for  these 
starving  Russians  and  in  a  short  time  several  wagon 
loads  of  flour,  coal,  shoes  and  all  kinds  of  canned 
goods  were  sent  to  the  Russians,  who  have  never  for 
gotten.  They  laave  become  American  citizens,  and 
believe  in  America  largely  because  of  this  friendly 
act. 

Through  the  influence  of  Count  Tolstoy  and  oth 
ers,  many  of  the  Dukhobors  were  helped  to  emigrate 
to  Canada.  After  they  had  made  a  success  there, 
they  were  visited  by  some  of  the  Russian  Molokans. 
The  latter  did  not  find  Canada  inviting,  but  after 
travelling  along  the  Pacific*  Coast  were  favorably 
impressed  with  Los  Angeles.  Beginning  in  1905, 
they  began  to  emigrate  to  Los  Angeles  and  con- 


82      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

tinned  to  do  so  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  World  War. 
At  the  present  time  there  are  in  Los  Angeles  about 
4,500  Molokans  or  milk-drinkers,  50  Dukhobors  and 
400  Subotniks  or  Judaized  Russians.  The  Molokans, 
in  turn,  are  split  into  3,100  Priguni  or  "  Jumpers," 
and  200  Postoyani  or  "Steadfast  ones."  The  great 
majority  of  these  now  want  to  return  to  Eussia  to 
enjoy  the  new  freedom  which  they  believe  has  been 
won  there.  There  have  also  been  several  commun 
ist  and  cooperative  experiments  in  America  which 
have  not  proved  successful.  In  Harrison,  Tenn.,  a 
colony  of  anarchists  started  a  commune  in  1913, 
but  it  failed  within  a  year.  Others  have  been  started 
in  California,  Minnesota,  Texas,  and  New  York,  but 
most  of  them  with  similar  results. 

Besides  these  sectarian  movements  in  the  United 
States,  there  has  been  a  split  in  the  Eussian  Ortho 
dox  Church  in  America.  Until  the  revolution,  the 
Tsar's  government,  through  the  Holy  Synod, 
granted  about  $40,000  yearly  for  the  work  of  the 
Orthodox  Church  in  America.  After  the  revolution 
the  church  in  Eussia  was  separated  from  the  state 
and  no  money  was  sent  to  America.  This  close  re 
lationship  between  the  Tsar's  government  and  the 
church  in  America  naturally  made  for  an  autocratic 
management.  All  the  titles  to  the  property  through 
out  the  United  States  were  supposed  to  belong  to 
the  bishop  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church  in 
America.  The  Eussian  workmen,  who  had  given 
the  money  to  buy  the  land  and  buildings,  slowly  be 
coming  imbued  with  American  ideals,  demanded  a 
greater  measure  of  control  over  the  property  which 
they  felt  they  had  paid  for.  Besides  the  influence 
of  American  traditions,  the  revolution  in  Eussia  has 
powerfully  stimulated  this  feeling.  The  desire  for 
a  more  democratic  control  caused  conflicts  in  many 
churches  in  America.  For  example,  it  has  been  re 
ported  that  in  Chicago  the  workmen  who  had  paid 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  83 

their  savings  for  church  expenses  demanded  an  ac 
counting.  At  last  they  became  so  insistent  that  the 
priest  preached  them  a  sermon  on  the  text,  '  *  Let  not 
thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth," 
stating  that  the  gifts  were  given  to  God  and  needed 
no  accounting.  This  so  enraged  some  of  the  work 
men  that  they  broke  up  the  service,  upon  which  the 
priest  used  his  heavy  gilt  cross  as  a  club  on  the 
heads  of  his  dissatisfied  parishioners.  The  fight 
ended  in  a  split  among  the  members  and  the  start 
ing  of  an  ' '  Independent ' '  church.  This  church  used 
many  of  the  old  ritual  forms,  but  the  title  to  the 
property  rested  with  the  parishioners. 

This  democratic  movement  has  spread  rapidly  un 
til  now  there  are  independent  churches  in  Chicago, 
Detroit,  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Brooklyn, 
Baltimore,  Bayonne  City,  N.  J.,  and  Lawrence,  Mass. 
Ordinarily  these  churches  carry  on  a  larger  educa 
tional  and  social  work  than  do  the  Orthodox  ones. 
The  increase  in  the  difficulties  of  the  Russian  Or 
thodox  Church  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  since 
the  revolution  the  acting  Bishop  has  had  fifteen  law 
suits  on  his  hands,  five  of  which  were  to  secure  the 
control  of  church  property.  This  independent  move 
ment  and  the  growing  estrangement  of  the  Russian 
fromliis  church,  while  discouraging  from  an  Ortho 
dox  point  of  view,  is  nevertheless  an  indication  of 
the  growing  democratic  spirit  of  the  Russians. 

Of  course  the  great  majority  of  Russian  priests 
remain  Orthodox  and  many  of  them  are  doing  a 
splendid  work  for  their  parishioners.  They  are 
sharing  the  isolation  of  the  mining  camps  at  meager 
salaries  and  are  giving  their  countrymen  the  inspira 
tion  which  comes  from  beautiful  religious  services 
and  sacraments. 

Protestant  church  affiliation.— The  large  number 
of  Russian  sects  in  America  has  tended  to  increase 
the  number  of  converts  in  the  Protestant  churches. 


84      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Very  much  more  work  has  been  done  among  them 
than  among  the  Euthenians.  The  United  States 
Census  of  Eeligious  Bodies  in  1916  gave  the  follow 
ing  data  on  Protestant  Eussian  Churches:  The 
Baptists — 4  Eussian  churches  with  a  total  of  174 
members  and  4  mixed  churches  with  a  total  of  1,350 
members;  The  Disciples  of  Christ — 4  Eussian 
churches  with  194  members;  The  Seventh  Day  Ad- 
ventists — 4  Eussian  churches  with  171  members  and 
1  mixed  church  with  26  enrolled;  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church — 1  Eussian  church  with  200  mem 
bers  and  1  mixed  church  of  350  members ;  The  Pres 
byterians — 1  Eussian  church  of  25  members  and  2 
mixed  churches  with  1,015  members;  The  Mennon- 
ites — 1  Eussian  church  of  47  members;  The  Prot 
estant  Episcopal — 1  mixed  church  with  1,071  mem 
bers  ;  The  Church  of  Christ — 1  mixed  church  with 
135  members.  The  Eoman  Catholic  churches  num 
bered  122,  with  124,285  members,  and  the  Eastern 
Orthodox,  168,  with  99,406  members.  At  the  present 
time  (1921)  I  believe  there  are  31  meeting  places  for 
Eussian  Baptists  alone,  which  shows  the  progress 
the  Protestant  work  has  been  making  since  1916. 

When  we  turn  to  the  same  statistics  in  regard  to 
the  Euthenians  we  find:  The  Presbyterian  church 
— 2  Euthenian  churches  with  779  members,  2  mixed 
churches  with  1,698  members ;  The  Protestant  Epis 
copal  Church  with  1  mixed  church  of  65  members; 
The  Baptists  with  1  mixed  church  with  45  members. 
The  Eoman  Catholics  had  70  churches  and  74,860 
members.1  In  the  case  of  the  Euthenian  churches 
it  would  have  been  possible  to  have  increased  the 
number  of  Protestant  churches  to  six  had  every 
mixed  church  been  included.2 

Undoubtedly  big  gains  in  Protestant  affiliation  are 
to  be  made  in  the  years  just  ahead.  The  ground 

1 U.  S.  Census  of  Religious  Bodies,  1916. 
2  Many  of  above  figures  include  adherents. 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  85 

work  has  been  laid  and  if  the  Protestant  Church  is 
awake  to  her  opportunity,  growth  will  be  rapid. 
Probably  the  Baptist  Church,  both  in  America  and 
Eussia,  has  done  more  than  any  other  Protestant 
denomination  among  the  Russians. 

A  brief  historical  statement  of  the  growth  of  their 
work  in  New  York  City  by  Dr.  Sears  is  of  interest 
as  showing  that  it  was  a  schism  in  the  Baptist  work 
which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the  Disciple  Mis 
sion  among  the  Russians  and  that  the  Baptists  have 
been  responsible  for  the  origin  of  at  least  one  other 
denominational  group. 

FORMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  APPROACH 

Social  settlement.— There  is,  so  far  as  I  know, 
no  social  settlement  ministering  exclusively  to  the 
Russians  and  Ruthenians.  There  are  a  number  that 
include  these  among  other  nationalities,  but  most  of 
them  have  not  had  a  paid  worker  speaking  these  lan 
guages  and  hence  have  had  to  confine  their  efforts 
very  largely  to  the  children  who  speak  English.  The 
social  settlement  is  doing  a  splendid  work  in  bring 
ing  the  Russian  and  Ruthenian  into  contact  with 
American  ideals  and  with  friendly  American  citi 
zens,  but  it  seldom  does  a  distinctively  religious 
work.  It  is  true  that  some  of  them  are  run  by  re 
ligious  denominations  such  as,  for  instance,  the  set 
tlement  of  the  Baptist  City  Mission  in  Philadelphia 
or  that  of  the  Episcopal  City  Mission  in  New  York, 
and  others  like  the  Settlement  run  by  Union  Theo 
logical  Seminary  are  inter-denominational.  Unfor 
tunately  settlement  work  has  not  yet  to  any  degree 
acted  as  a  channel  into  church  membership  for  Rus 
sians  and  Ruthenians. 

The  institutional  church.  —  The  institutional 
church  is  probably  the  best  means  of  reaching  the 
Russians  and  Ruthenians.  The  Rev.  George  G.  Hoi- 


86      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

lingshead  of  the  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  has  done  splendid  work 
among  the  Eussians  through  this  means.  He  began 
by  simply  throwing  open  a  large  room  for  their 
meetings  to  a  group  of  Eussians,  allowing  them  to 
organize  in  their  own  way  and  to  hold  meetings  as 
they  wished.  They  called  themselves  "The  Eussian 
Self -Educated  Circle."  Soon  the  number  of  mem 
bers  reached  about  sixty.  They  had  an  open  forum 
every  Saturday  night  following  a  lecture,  and  classes 
in  English  were  held  on  Monday  and  Tuesday 
nights.  Later  mathematics  and  civics  were  added. 
Voluntarily  this  group  began  to  make  contributions 
to  the  church  expenses  and  finally  several  of  them 
joined  the  church  on  their  own  initiative.  They  said 
they  wanted  to  support  a  church  which  permitted 
Eussians  to  meet  in  it  and  conduct  meetings  in  their 
own  way.  The  Church  of  All  Nations  in  New  York 
City  has  been  doing  valuable  work  with  the  Eus 
sians  as  well  as  with  the  other  nationalities.  The 
Labor  Temple,  in  New  York  City,  has  also  been  con 
ducting  an  open  forum  on  social,  civic,  economic, 
political  and  religious  subjects.  These  have  at 
tracted  some  Eussians,  but  there  has  been  no  dis 
tinctly  religious  work  among  them.  The  Gary 
Chapel  and  Neighborhood  House  in  Gary,  Ind.,  has 
done  notable  work  in  helping  all  the  various  nation 
alities.  Eight  national  foreign  societies  hold  meet 
ings  in  the  house.  There  were  classes  in  English, 
boy  scout  work  and  religious  services.  The  institu 
tional  church  can  be  made  a  powerful  instrument  in 
reaching  Eussians  and  Euthenians,  but  it  must  be 
located  in  the  neighborhood  in  which  they  live  and 
eventually  must  have  workers  on  its  staff  who  speak 
their  languages. 

Evangelism.— The  preaching  of  personal  loyalty 
to  Jesus  Christ  should  always  be  the  primary  mes 
sage  of  the  church  to  the  Eussian  and  Eutheniaru 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  87 

Eeligious  teaching  and  the  evangelistic  method  must 
be  a  part  of  every  church  work  for  foreigners. 
Music  from  the  Salvation  Army  reaching  the  Rus 
sians  on  the  street  has  successfully  been  used  by  the 
Eussian  Baptist  minister  in  Buffalo;  others  have 
found  that  few  Eussians  or  Euthenians  have  been 
touched  in  this  way.  Undoubtedly  if  a  Eussian  has 
a  talent  for  street  preaching  he  can  reach  his  coun 
trymen  in  this  way.  But  by  far  the  greater  number 
of  the  churches  working  among  the  Eussians  find 
that  evangelistic  meetings  are  more  effective.  In 
order  to  bring  permanent  results  in  church  member 
ship  and  church  life,  they  must  be  closely  tied  up  to 
a  service  program  which  will  meet  the  needs  all 
around  the  circle  of  a  man's  living.  When  this  is 
done  and  when  we  lay  less  stress  upon  the  points  of 
difference  between  denominational  creeds,  there  will 
be  less  of  a  tendency  to  fanaticism  among  those  who 
naturally  might  be  so  inclined.  One  Orthodox  Eus 
sian  priest  in  California  has  said  that  80%  of  the 
poorer  classes  of  Eussians  in  that  state  belong  to 
fanatical  sects,  as  the  "Molokans,"  Holy  Eollers, 
Holy  Jumpers,  Anti-Baptists,  and  Anti-Priest  be 
lievers. 

Equipment  is  naturally  a  big  problem.  Fre 
quently,  as  in  Pittsburgh  among  a  population  of 
thousands  of  Eussians  and  Euthenians,  there  is  only 
a  small  rented  store  room  to  meet  their  religious 
needs.  It  is  doubtless  inevitable  that  the  work 
should  begin  in  a  small  way  before  it  can  grow 
larger,  but  it  does  seem  unfortunate  that  the  immi 
grant  who  is  so  impressed  with  our  huge  buildings 
and  industrial  establishments  should  not  find  a  larger 
and  more  complete  plant  awaiting  his  religious 
,  needs.  The  institutional  church,  for  this  reason 
alone,  has  a  greater  advantage. 

By  a  minister  of  kin.— The  men  who  are  today 
doing  the  most  effective  evangelistic  work  among 


88      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

the  Russians  in  the  United  States  are  Russians.  Un 
doubtedly  the  big  handicap  of  the  Russian  language 
is  one  reason  for  this.  Another  is  that  those  Ameri 
cans  who  do  understand  Russian  are  usually  drawn 
to  other  fields.  Either  they  go  to  Russia  or  they 
become  engaged  in  social,  civic  or  commercial  work. 
The  Russian  ministers  have  an  advantage  in  know 
ing  better  the  psychology  of  the  Russian  immigrant 
and  furthermore,  can  speak  the  language  perfectly. 
Too  often  they  lack  education.  Nearly  all  the  stu 
dents  in  the  Baptist  Seminary  in  New  Jersey,  for 
example,  had  not  been  in  high  school  and  many  of 
them  had  not  even  finished  the  grammar  school.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  the  majority  of  converts  are 
from  the  peasant  class  who  have  emigrated  to 
America. 

LITEBATURE 

The  secular  press.— The  Russian  secular  press  is 
almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Jews,  and  hence  is 
more  or  less  antagonistic  to  the  Protestant  and 
Greek  Orthodox  churches.  The  Ukrainian  secular 
press,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  case  of  several  news 
papers,  is  working  in  close  touch  with  the  church, 
which  is  Roman  Catholic.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be 
very  open-minded  toward  Protestant  church  work. 

The  religious  press.— The  religious  press  keeps 
changing  frequently  as  new  sects  spring  up  and  es 
tablished  publications  die  out.  A  list  of  the  more 
important  religious  periodicals  appearing  in  the 
Russian  and  Ukrainian  languages  is  found  in  Ap 
pendix  C.  Of  the  Russian  papers,  five  are  issued 
monthly,  and  only  two  more  often  than  once  a  week. 
Many  of  these  periodicals  may  be  doing  much  good, 
but  are  unattractive  in  form  and  more  or  less  fanati 
cal.  Their  tone  is  indicated  by  verse  such  as  "The 
Blood  of  the  Son"  which  appeared  in  1920.  This 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  89 

may  appeal  to  a  few  but  certainly  would  not  touch 
the  majority  of  Eussian  readers.  The  material  in 
most  of  these  periodicals  seems  to  be  theological  and 
unconnected  with  the  conditions  of  daily  living.  The 
Norodny  Poychenia  is  the  Eusselite  magazine  and 
anyone  who  is  familiar  with  the  literature  of  that 
sect  knows  the  kind  of  articles  which  they  circulate 
depicting  the  end  of  the  world  as  now  impending. 

The  truth  is  that  there  is  not  a  single  paper  for 
the  thousands  of  Russians  or  Euthenians  in  this 
country  which  can  compare  with  our  Protestant  Eng 
lish  religious  weeklies.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
those  denominations  who  could  get  together,  can 
not  unite  in  publishing  a  first  class  interdenomina 
tional  religious  paper.  It  should  combine  comments 
on  news  items,  stories,  a  children's  page,  educational 
features,  as  well  as  religious  instruction  and  inspira 
tion. 

Tracts.— I  have  read  over  fifty  tracts  printed  in 
Eussian  and  find  that  in  general  they  take  for 
granted  the  literal  word-for-word  divine  inspiration 
of  the  Bible.  They  use  the  proof  text  method. 
Quite  a  considerable  number  are  too  controversial  to 
be  really  effective.  Many  of  them  are  not  adapted 
to  the  Eussian  Slav  because  they  are  not  based  upon 
Eussian  psychology.  On  the  other  hand  the  pam 
phlets  attacking  belief  in  God  as  a  superstition,  put 
out  by  the  Union  of  Eussian  Workers,  are  really 
far  more  effective  for  their  destructive  purpose. 
For  example,  one  of  them  published  in  1918,  The 
Fact  of  God,  attempts  to  show  in  a  clever  scien 
tific  way  that  (1)  the  hypothesis  of  God  is  unneces 
sary,  (2)  that  it  is  not  useful,  (3)  that  it  is  non 
sense,  (4)  that  it  is  criminal.  Dogmatic  tracts  can 
not  meet  such  arguments;  they  must  be  met  with 
reason  and  love.  In  order  to  do  this,  the  tracts 
must  deal  with  subjects  with  which  the  Eussians  are 
familiar  in  their  everyday  experience.  This  should 


90      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

include  the  bad  boss  and  the  good  foreman,  the  hard 
grind  of  factory  life  and  the  crowded  conditions  in 
the  tenement.  The  illustrated  story  form  of  pres 
entation  is  especially  desirable  for  the  average 
Eussian. 

One  set  of  tracts  should  be  developed  for  the  bulk 
of  Eussian  laborers  who  constitute  ninety-five  per 
cent  of  the  Eussians  in  this  country.  There  should 
be  another  set  for  the  intelligent  Christians  and  for 
their  ministers  and  leaders.  The  tracts  and  book 
lets  examined  were  printed  by  eight  different  re 
ligious  organizations.  It  is  very  difficult  to  classify 
the  tracts  because  they  might  fall  under  any  one  of 
several  headings.  I  believe  ten  might  be  considered 
devotional,  fourteen  theological,  eleven  evangelical 
and  two  sociological.  There  were  sixteen  story  pam 
phlets,  but  three  of  these  were  included  under  one  of 
the  other  headings.  Of  the  fifty,  thirty-six  might 
be  considered  positive,  and  fourteen  controversial  or 
negative.  Twenty-one  were  translations  from  the 
English,  and  twenty-five  seemed  to  be  written  for 
the  Eussians.  The  four  gospels  were  not  included 
in  this  last  summary. 

The  size  and  paper  used  for  the  tracts  were  suit 
able  but  in  some  cases  a  larger  type  would  have  been 
better.  More  illustrations  could  have  been  used  giv 
ing  greater  value  for  the  ordinary  Eussian.  Most 
of  them  were  written  in  simple  everyday  language. 

It  was  interesting — and  disappointing — to  note 
that  the  majority  of  the  tracts  expressed  the  thought 
of  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago.  They  did  not 
have  the  modern  social  viewpoint.  For  example,  a 
tract  by  Mr.  Bokmelder,  a  teacher  in  the  Interna 
tional  Baptist  Seminary  at  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  on 
The  Anti-Christ  appears  to  be  attacking  the  labor 
unions  and  is  so  considered  even  by  religious  Eus 
sian  workmen  whom  I  consulted.  It  says,  "We  soon 
are  nearing  the  time  when  all  unions  will  unite  in 


RELIGIOUS  CONDITIONS  91 

one  union  at  the  head  of  which  will  be  the  Anti- 
Christ  or  beast.  At  the  present  time  the  Unions 
give  their  members  membership  cards,  but  in  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Anti-Christ  all  citizens  of  his  must 
have  the  name  of  the  beast  on  their  forehead. ' '  The 
Russians,  since  the  revolution,  are  particularly  sus 
ceptible  to  the  social  gospel,  yet  there  was  only  one1 
booklet  which  could  really  be  considered  as  written 
from  this  point  of  view.  This  was  Eauschenbusch  's 
Social  Teachings  of  Jesus  translated  by  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  The  few  biographical  references  in  the  tracts 
mentioned  no  Eussian  names — which  would  have 
been  the  more  effective — but  American  leaders. 
Most  of  them  presupposed  too  great  a  knowledge 
of  the  Bible  for  the  ordinary  Eussian,  although  this 
was  not  true  of  the  stories.  None  of  the  tracts 
seemed  especially  adapted  for  the  group  in  America 
as  contrasted  with  those  in  the  home  land.  Some 
were  printed  in  Petrograd  and  are  evidently  used 
interchangeably  here  and  in  Eussia. 

The  gospels  in  illustrated  pamphlet  form  are  very 
valuable,  as  are  extracts  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments;  perhaps  some  slight  comment  to  ac 
company  them  would  make  them  still  more  useful. 

Devotional  booklets  of  the  type  of  Fosdick's  Man 
hood  of  the  Master,  and  The  Meaning  of  Prayer, 
which  have  been  translated  and  published  by  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  are  excellent  for  Eussian  students,  and 
for  those  who  have  been  educated.  For  the  Eussian 
workmen  still  more  simple  books  should  be  devel 
oped.  Theological  pamphlets  should,  undoubtedly, 
be  written  in  popular  and  simple  language,  and 
should  deal  with  the  fundamental  points  of  our 
Christian  faith. 

Disputed  matters  between  the  different  denomina 
tions  should  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible.  Prob 
ably  the  greatest  need  of  all  is  for  pamphlets  which 
deal  with  social  questions.  These  should  take  up 


92      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

the  life  problems  of  the  Eussians  in  America.  They 
should  make  the  position  of  the  church  absolutely 
clear  regarding  social  justice  in  industry  and  com 
merce,  and  should  make  the  Russian  feel  that  where 
he  has  been  exploited,  the  church  stands  with  him 
against  his  oppressor. 

The  Eussians  do  not  realize  the  dangers  from 
tuberculosis  and  other  diseases,  and  know  little  of 
proper  precautionary  measures  and  personal  hy 
giene.  Besides  pamphlets  on  these  subjects  there 
should  be  others  which  tell  the  notable  achievements 
of  the  great  Eussian  leaders,  of  the  truly  wonderful 
religious  men  which  Eussia  has  produced.  Extracts 
from  many  of  the  lay  Eussian  writers  could  cer 
tainly  be  used  to  great  advantage. 

General  literature.— Very  little  of  American  litera 
ture  has  been  translated  into  Eussian.  The  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  has  probably  done  more  than  has  any  other 
agency.  They  have  had  books  translated  and 
printed  on  technical  and  vocational  subjects  such  as 
farming;  on  popular  science  such  as  Eoubakine's 
What  is  in  the  Heavens?;  on  health  such  as  Exner's 
The  Rational  Sex  Life  for  Men;  on  biography  such 
as  Booker  T.  Washington's  Up  From  Slavery.  They 
also  have  books  on  history,  and  school  books  for 
boys  and  girls.  The  Eussian  Division  of  the  For 
eign  Language  Governmental  Information  Service 
Bureau  has  also  translated  an  American  history  and 
other  books.  There  still  remains  much  that  can  be 
done  along  this'line  to  teach  the  Eussian  and  Euthe- 
nian  American  ideals  and  the  American  mind. 

To  love  our  Eussian  and  Euthenian  neighbors  as 
ourselves  is  the  injunction.  The  Eussians  and  Euthe- 
nians  are  longing  for  a  friendly  American  hand  and 
we  have  extended  it  to  but  a  few  on  the  fringe.  We 
have  but  to  lift  our  eyes  and  look  upon  fields  already 
white  unto  a  harvest  more  rich  than  we  have 
dreamed.  But  the  laborers  indeed  are  few. 


Chapter  VI 
SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS 

LEADERSHIP  OF  FOKEIGN  LANGUAGE  CHUECHES 

Bolsheviks  or  Brothers?  They  can  be  regarded  as 
a  red  menace,  a  bogey  or  an  obligation,  accord 
ing  to  one's  viewpoint.  On  page  65  is  a  photo 
graph  of  a  poster  found  in  the  "  House  of  the 
Masses"  in  Detroit,  appealing  to  Russians  to  help 
their  brothers  who  have  been  arrested.  Essentially, 
this  is  a  religious  appeal  since  it  asks  help  for  those 
in  distress.  Yet  there  are  many  of  us  who  at  first 
would  condemn  them  for  such  activity.  Instead  of 
condemnation  they  need  friendliness  and  help. 
What  a  contribution  to  church  life  would  their  Rus 
sian  traits  be — their  depth  of  religious  feeling,  love 
of  music,  generous  sympathy,  group  loyalty,  their 
willingness  to  suffer  for  an  ideal.  It  is  here  that 
foreign  language  churches  must  assume  leadership. 

Kinsmen  trained  in  their  native  land.— In  Russia 
and  Galicia  there  are  not  at  the  present  time,  ade 
quate  theological  seminaries  aside  from  the  Greek 
Orthodox  and  the  Catholic.  Nevertheless,  there  may 
be  exceptional  Russians  and  Ruthenians  coming  to 
this  country,  who  have  already  had  university  or 
theological  training.  They  should  be  given  the  best, 
in  further  preparation,  that  America  can  offer.  Mr. 
Fetler  is  one  example ;  he  came  from  Russia  and  for 
a  time  was  associated  with  the  Baptist  work  in  New 
York  City  and  later  on  was  head  of  the  Russian 
Bible  and  Educational  Institute  in  Philadelphia 
.which  has  an  enrollment  of  120  Russians  and  Ukrai- 

93 


94      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

nians.  There  are  some  Russian  Orthodox  priests 
who  have  had  training  in  Russia,  who  are  sincere 
and  earnest  men.  Dr.  Hecker,  a  Russian  Methodist 
minister,  formerly  at  the  head  of  the  Church  of  All 
Nations  in  New  York  City,  says  that  for  real  coop 
eration  he  would  one  hundred  times  rather  work 
with  the  Orthodox  priests  than  with  sectarian- 
minded  Protestant  preachers.  Much  could  be  done 
to  help  these  priests  bring  the  message  of  Christ 
more  effectively  to  their  Russian  brothers.  They 
need  stereopticon  slides  for  talks,  books  in  Russian 
for  sermon  material,  and  instruction  and  help  in 
American  church  methods.  The  friendly  spirit 
which  they  showed  to  me  on  my  visits  and  their  oft- 
expressed  desire  to  know  more  Americans,  leads  me 
to  believe  that  cooperation  with  them  would  be  more 
than  possible. 

Kinsmen  trained  in  America.— Most  of  the  native 
Russian  and  Ruthenian  workers  in  this  country  have 
been  trained  here.  They  can  reach  the  hearts  of 
their  fellow-countrymen  as  almost  no  one  else  can. 
The  American  has  the  barrier  of  a  foreign  language 
to  overcome,  and  usually  has  not  had  sufficient  ex 
perience  of  the  kind  the  foreigner  has  undergone  to 
appreciate  his  feelings.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Christian  Russian  or  Ruthenian  with  a  passion  to 
present  God's  truth  to  his  fellow-countrymen  un 
derstands  life  from  their  angle.  Very  likely  he  him 
self  has  been  through  much  of  it.  Usually  these 
foreign  leaders  are  recruited  from  men  whose  reli 
gious  life  has  been  awakened  and  deepened  after 
coming  to  America.  Training  is  then  the  problem. 
In  our  own  colleges  and  seminaries  they  can  grow  to 
understand  the  American  point  of  view  and  know 
how  to  present  the  best  of  our  ideals.  Even  the  Rus 
sian  Orthodox  Church  has  found  the  need  of  having 
her  own  training  school  for  priests  in  this  country 
and  now  maintains  two  of  them. 


SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS  95 

One  difficulty  for  the  Russians  and  Euthenians 
who  have  been  trained  in  America  is  that  they  are 
doing  a  mission  and  pioneer  work.  Consequently 
they  are  not  paid  the  salaries  which  their  training 
would  naturally  call  for.  I  have  talked  with  several 
Protestant  Eussian  pastors  who  declared  that  they 
could  no  longer  endure  struggling  on  at  the  meager 
pittance  given  them  by  their  denominational  boards. 
They  said  they  would  prefer  to  work  as  laborers  in 
a  factory.  Of  course  we  must  make  sure  that  the 
foreign  leaders  are  consecrated  men  who  are  willing 
to  sacrifice  for  their  work,  but  it  is  unfortunate,  to 
say  the  least,  to  make  the  Eussian  or  Euthenian  feel 
that  he  is  inferior  to  the  American  worker. 

Another  difficulty  with  American-trained  Eus- 
sians  is  that  it  is  easy  to  get  out  of  sympathy  with 
their  fellow  countrymen  who  are  working  in  factory 
and  mine.  The  workers  in  one  town  in  Ohio  told  a 
Eussian  social  investigator,  "The  clergy  are  very 
far  from  the  workers  and  cannot  understand  our 
life  and  need.  They  cannot  help  us  in  a  practical 
way.  They  are  existing  not  for  us  but  for  them 
selves."  Undoubtedly  it  would  be  excellent  train 
ing  for  such  leaders — and  perhaps  not  Eussians  only 
— were  they  required  to  work  during  the  summer  as 
laborers  in  the  factories  and  mines'  in  which  their 
kinsmen  toil.  This  would  give  them  a  sympathy 
and  understanding  for  their  brothers  that  nothing 
else  could.  A  religious  leader,  himself  a  foreigner 
and  working  for  all  the  nationalities  in  Youngstown, 
Ohio,  wrote,  "The  training  of  Eussian  leaders 
should  enable  them  to  explain  to  these  people  nat 
ural  science  correctly,  not  the  way  it  has  been 
preached  by  Bakunin  and  others.  They  are  all  per 
meated  with  some  of  these  theories.  They  should 
have  a  broad  and  practical  religious  education,  not 
the  old  passive  kind  that  has  brought  them  to  ruin." 
A  Eussian  Protestant  preacher  said  regarding  the 


96      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

kind  of  leaders  needed,  "College  men  who  specialize 
in  sociology  and  economics  in  order  that  they  may 
be  leaders  in  interpreting  the  social  and  economic 
problems  of  the  immigrant  as  well  as  his  religious 
ones." 

In  fact,  until  the  Eussian  preachers  know  from 
observation  that  most  of  the  foreigners  never  see 
the  real  America,  that  they  are  too  often  exploited 
by  other  foreigners  and  by  Americans,  they  cannot 
have  that  sympathy  for  them  which  alone  will  reach 
the  heart.  As  a  Euthenian  priest  has  well  stated, 
"My  people  do  not  live  in  America.  They  live  un 
derneath  America.  America  goes  on  over  their 
heads."  x  Every  alien  church  leader  must  be  close 
to  the  experiences  of  his  people.  A  Eussian  Prot 
estant  preacher  for  example  who  is  bitterly  hostile 
to  the  Bolsheviks  must  understand  and  tactfully 
deal  with  Eussian  workmen  who  believe  in  Soviet 
Russia  or  he  cannot  reach  the  masses  of  his  coun 
trymen  in  America.  Sympathy,  love,  understanding 
and  reverence  for  the  personality  of  every  humble 
Eussian  is  the  only  key  to  unlock  their  hearts. 

Americans  trained  in  foreign  lands.— It  is  natur 
ally  easy  to  accept  foreign-born  leadership  for  the 
Eussians  and  Euthenians.  In  our  anxiety  to  extend 
the  work,  however,  we  must  realize  that  American 
leadership  is  imperative.  The  Eussian  or  Euthenian 
pastor,  be  he  ever  so  successful,  can  never  command 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  American  church 
leaders  that  an  American  will.  Furthermore,  the 
Eussians  are  always  suspicious  of  one  from  their 
own  number,  paid  by  someone  else,  who  is  preach 
ing  to  them.  They  do  not  have  quite  the  same  feel 
ing  toward  an  American.  They  are  rather  sur 
prised  that  when  he  could  secure  so  much  larger 
remuneration  in  other  lines  he  will  come  to  help 
them.  For  instance,  a  year  ago  the  writer  was  vis- 

1 H.  B.  Grose,  Aliens  or  Americans. 


SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS  97 

iting  in  Lawrence,  Massachusetts.  Being  interested 
in  the  Russians  he  attended  their  church,  found  that 
they  were  without  a  pastor  and  that  the  workmen 
were  running  the  church  independently.  These 
plain  Eussians  then  called  a  meeting  at  which  the 
American  spoke  and  afterwards  the  workmen  show 
ered  him  with  thanks.  They  even  wanted  to  know 
if  he  couldn't  help  them  secure  a  pastor.  Yet  these 
same  Eussians  were  considered  as  Bolsheviks,  an 
archists  and  I.  W.  W.'s  by  the  local  press  during 
the  strike. 

The  immigrant  should  first  be  met  by  a  Christian 
worker  from  among  his  own  countrymen,  speaking 
his  language,  understanding  his  viewpoint.  After 
wards  the  American  who  has  the  right  vision  can 
do  more  than  the  Eussian  leader  in  bringing  the 
Eussian  and  Euthenian  in  touch  with  our  ideals  and 
institutions.  Furthermore,  the  American  can  do 
what  is  almost  equally  needed,  if  not  more  so,  in 
terpret  the  Eussian  and  Euthenian  to  Americans. 
His  task  would  not  only  be  to  help  the  foreigner 
assimilate  the  best  of  America,  but  to  make  America 
assimilate  the  best  that  is  in  the  Eussian  and  Euthe 
nian.  He  would  aid  in  preventing  the  exploitation 
of  the  alien  and  in  giving  to  the  foreigner  the  square 
deal  in  industry.  As  Shriver  in  his  Immigrant 
Forces  has  stated,  "The  immigrant  and  industrial 
communities  of  this  country  offer  unparalleled  op 
portunities  for  service  to  young  men  of  heroic  con 
secration,  men  with  a  grasp  upon  the  significance  of 
American  democracy  and  American  institutions, 
trained  in  modern  scientific  methods,  in  sociology 
and  philanthropy,  and  with  a  sympathetic  acquaint 
ance  with  the  life,  language,  history,  and  religious 
traditions  of  the  immigrants. ' 9 

In  order  really  to  help  him  here,  the  background 
out  of  which  he  has  come  should  be  seen  and  studied 
by  the  American  leader.  He  must  live  with  the  na- 


98      RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

tive  Eussians,  see  their  home  life,  and  understand 
their  ideals  and  language.  It  is  small  wonder  that 
the  most  successful  American  workers  among  for 
eigners  have  had  some  training  in  their  home  lands. 
Men  like  the  Eev.  Joel  B.  Hayden  of  Cleveland,  the 
Eev.  Kenneth  D.  Miller  and  Harvey  Anderson  of 
New  York  City  have  all  had  this  privilege.  It  is  an 
indispensable  prerequisite  for  the  largest  work 
among  Eussians  and  Euthenians  in  America. 

Work  of  men  and  women.— There  has  been  very 
little  work  done  for  the  Eussians  by  women.  Some 
church  work  has  been  carried  on,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
has  made  some  progress,  and  a  few  settlement 
houses  have  used  Eussian  workers.  There  is  no 
question  but  that  sincere  and  consecrated  women 
workers  can  do  much  that  men  cannot  do.  They 
can  go  into  the  tenement  homes  and  reach  the  women 
and  children  as  no  man  can.  In  matters  of  cooking, 
the  care  and  feeding  of  children,  and  in  home  nurs 
ing  they  have  an  approach  to  the  home  of  the  immi 
grant  which  eventually  may  lead  into  the  church. 
The  road  to  the  heart  of  the  foreigner  often  lies 
through  his  children  and  many  a  beginning  has  been 
made  through  Sunday  schools  and  kindergartens  or 
ganized  by  women. 

Miss  Jones  at  the  Methodist  Temple  in  Philadel 
phia  is  an  illustration  of  one  who  has  been  doing 
evangelistic  work.  There  are  now  almost  two  hun 
dred  attending  these  meetings  and  many  have  been 
converted.  Other  women  have  been  able  to  reach 
the  men  also  through  English  classes.  On  the  other 
hand  a  woman  worker  cannot  take  as  active  an  in 
terest  in  the  labor  of  the  foreigner  in  factory  and 
mine  as  a  man  can.  He  is  able  to  go  anywhere  at 
any  time  in  our  crowded  foreign  sections ;  a  woman 
cannot  move  so  freely.  Furthermore  there  is  still 
something  in  the  mores  of  the  Eussians  and  Euthe 
nians  which  makes  them  accept  a  man  for  a  minis- 


SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS  99 

ter  more  quickly  than  they  would  a  woman.  It  has 
been  their  experience  in  the  past  that  only  men  have 
been  priests.  Nevertheless  there  is  no  clear  divid 
ing  line  between  the  work  of  men  and  women.  Both 
are  needed  and  both  can  be  effective  if  they  know 
the  social,  the  economic  and  the  religious  needs  of 
the  people,  sympathize  with  and  love  them  and  give 
themselves  unreservedly  in  self-sacrificing  service. 

FOKEIGN  LANGUAGE  TKAINING  SCHOOLS 

Denominational.— In  talking  with  Eussian  Prot 
estant  pastors,  both  those  who  had  been  trained  in 
colleges  and  seminaries  and  those  who  had  not,  I 
found  them  all  agreed  that  the  best  method  of  train 
ing  foreign  leaders  is  to  have  them  go  through  our 
American  colleges  and  seminaries  and  mingle  with 
American  men.  Shriver  in  his  Immigrant  Forces 
quotes  a  resolution  adopted  by  American  and  Mag 
yar  pastors  which  might  well  apply  to  the  Eus 
sian  and  Euthenian  work:  "We  do  not  believe  in  a 
double  standard  of  education  or  qualification  for  the 
ministry,  one  for  foreign-speaking  men  and  a  sec 
ond  for  English-speaking  men.  We  believe  both 
standards  should  be  high  and  that  our  foreign- 
speaking  candidates  should  apply  themselves  with 
the  same  devotion  and  painstaking  in  preparation 
for  the  ministry  as  is  expected  of  all  candidates  in 
the  church. " 

When  we  come  to  work  out  the  practical  side  of 
this  plan,  however,  we  find  that  many  of  the  men 
who  desire  to  enter  these  fields  of  Christian  work 
are  too  old  to  take  all  the  preparation  necessary  for 
entrance  to  our  American  theological  seminaries. 
Many  of  them  do  not  even  know  English.  To  meet 
this  situation,  a  number  of  our  denominations  have 
organized  schools  which  conduct  classes  in  the  Eus 
sian  language.  Thus  the  Baptists  maintained  in 


100    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

1920  a  Eussian  Baptist  Bible  Institute  in  New 
York  City  which  trained  religious  leaders  in  the 
Eussian  language.  The  great  difficulty  here,  as  one 
of  the  students  explained  to  me,  was  that  the  Eus 
sian  students  are  isolated  and  so  do  not  mix  with 
any  Americans.  As  they  all  speak  Eussian  and 
have  little  need  for  the  English,  here  again  they  are 
living  in  a  world  apart  from  American  life.  This 
school  has  now  (1921)  become  a  branch  of  an  Inter 
national  Seminary  at  East  Orange,  N.  J. 

A  number  of  our  American  theological  seminaries 
maintain  Slavic  departments,  having  the  advantage 
of  being  closely  affiliated  with  the  American.  Stu 
dents  who  know  enough  English  can  take  work 
along  with  the  Americans.  Such  a  school  is  the 
Baldwin  Wallace  Theological  Seminary  at  Berea, 
Ohio.  A  list  of  various  theological  seminaries  and 
schools  which  receive  Eussian  or  Euthenian  students 
is  included  in  Appendix  B. 

Interdenominational.— It  is  natural,  since  our 
Protestant  churches  are  only  in  the  first  stages  of 
federation,  that  the  denominational  school  should  be 
the  first  to  meet  these  needs  of  the  foreigner.  As 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  there  is  no  real  in 
terdenominational  foreign  language  training  school 
in  America  although  we  use  this  plan  on  the  foreign 
field.  We  have  our  American  interdenominational 
seminaries  such  as  Union  Theological  in  New  York 
City,  but  there  are  no  Eussians  or  Euthenians  in  at 
tendance.  Wherever  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  the  Eus 
sians  and  Euthenians  should  certainly  go  to  such  a 
seminary  with  its  splendid  Christian  teachers.  They 
would  then  come  to  know  a  little  of  the  best  in 
America.  Still,  for  those  Eussians  who  are  inade 
quately  prepared,  the  Christian  forces  of  America 
should  provide  an  interdenominational  school.  One 
of  the  Protestant  Eussian  pastors  expressed  to  me 
his  deep  feeling  that  our  failure  to  do  more  among 


SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  Pf&BI&Mg  '>          iV 


the  Russians  is  due  to  interdenominational  jealou 
sies  and  rivalries.  At  present  one  denomination  in 
a  city  will  compete  with  another  for  Russian  at 
tendance.  One  minister  will  condemn  as  false  the 
doctrines  of  the  other  Protestant  church.  This  leads 
to  the  state  of  mind  of  one  Russian  worker,  "All 
churches  disagree  on  what  they  believe,  one  says  the 
other  bad,  we  don  't  believe  any,  they  all  are  working 
for  money  too,  we  only  believe  in  God  and  try  to 
live  good  lives."  Even  a  Russian  Baptist  minister 
in  Pennsylvania  said,  "In  the  churches  of  New  York 
among  the  Russians  there  are  Presbyterians,  Meth 
odists,  Baptists,  Pentecostals,  Disciples,  Mennonites. 
The  Russian  people  go  from  one  to  the  other  and 
say  they  are  all  crazy.  They  preach  only  denomi- 
nationalism,  they  do  not  preach  the  gospel.  The 
Russian  people  believe  that  the  real  religion  is  want 
ing  to  do  good  and  serve  God,  and  have  no  interest 
in  our  American  denominationalism.  '  ' 

An  interdenominational  seminary  for  Russians 
would  lead  all  the  students  to  see  that  the  different 
churches  are  cooperating  forces  for  bringing  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  They  would  realize  that  the 
church  is  one,  although  it  has  different  forms  of  ex 
pression.  It  is  true  that  all  the  denominations  would 
be  unwilling  to  join  in  such  an  undertaking,  but  this 
should  not  deter  those  who  can  unite  from  being  the 
pioneers  in  this  eminently  Christian  union. 

Polyglot  training  schools.—  Polyglot  training 
schools  are  good  in  that  they  draw  together  the  dif 
ferent  nationalities,  but  do  not  as  a  rule  have  suffi 
cient  Americanizing  influences  at  work.  The  Rus 
sians  and  Ruthenians  need  the  contact  with  Ameri 
cans.  If  such  a  foreign  language  training  school 
offers  classes  in  English,  the  students  should  event 
ually  be  able  to  take  a  year  of  special  training  in  an 
American  seminary.  If  most  of  their  subjects  are 
given  in  the  various  foreign  languages,  the  students 


102    RUSSIANS  AND  EUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

do  not  get  much  benefit  from  their  intercourse  with 
other  nationalities.  Too  often  they  see  the  weak 
nesses  and  failures  of  certain  groups,  not  their  vir 
tues,  thus  making  unchristian  racial  antagonisms 
possible.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  experiences 
which  all  the  foreigners  have  in  common.  They  have 
come  as  immigrants  to  a  foreign  land.  They  are 
more  or  less  unacquainted  with  the  real  America. 
Most  of  the  different  nationalities  labor  in  the  rela 
tively  harder  lines  of  industrial  work,  live  in  the 
congested  districts  of  our  larger  cities  and  are 
thrown  in  touch  with  each  other  in  their  life  in  fac 
tory  and  tenement.  Consequently,  all  have  common 
problems  which  can  be  shared  and  which  can  be 
dealt  with  in  such  detail  as  would  not  be  possible  in 
an  American  seminary.  The  polyglot  seminary  may 
at  present  be  necessary  from  a  practical  standpoint 
but  the  interdenominational  school  in  which  the  for 
eigner  mingles  with  the  American  would  certainly 
prove  more  effective. 

Americanizing  influences.— Whether  the  foreign 
training  school  is  denominational,  interdenomina 
tional,  or  polyglot  the  biggest  problem  of  all  is  to 
be  sure  that  the  Americanizing  influences  are  ade 
quate.  Usually  such  seminaries  have  courses  in  the 
English  language  and  lectures  on  American  customs 
and  ideals.  While  this  is  necessary  it  is  not  enough. 
The  Eussian  and  Kuthenian  must  be  brought  into 
contact  with  American  life.  One  excellent  method 
is  to  have  observation  courses  where  the  foreign 
students  are  taken  to  the  various  American  insti 
tutions  such  as  our  courts,  our  schools,  our  settle 
ments,  our  prisons,  our  churches  and  pur  factories ; 
they  are  then  required  to  write  their  criticisms.  This 
opens  the  way  for  class  room  discussion  on  just 
what  are  the  ideals  of  America.  The  foreign  stu 
dents  ought  also  to  mingle  with  American  theologi 
cal  students,  make  friends  with  them,  and  come  into 


SPECIAL  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEMS  103 

their  home  life.  Where  this  is  impossible  an  ar 
rangement  should  be  made  whereby  each  student 
could  work  with  some  one  American. 

Further,  if  the  Russian  or  Ruthenian  students  are 
capable  of  doing  so,  they  should  be  sent  out  to  speak 
before  American  churches  and  Sunday  Schools. 
This  helps  them  to  see  our  best  American  life  and 
helps  the  American  people  to  be  sympathetic  with 
the  foreigner. 

One  of  the  best  means  of  helping  our  Russian  and 
Ruthenian  brothers  in  America  is  by  assisting 
wherever  possible  the  Orthodox  Russian  and  Ru 
thenian  leaders.  The  Christian  forces  of  America 
have  not  yet  done  what  they  can  to  help  the  Russian 
Greek  Orthodox  priests.  Many  of  these  men  are 
longing  for  help.  Several  of  them  have  asked  me  to 
refer  them  to  American  agencies  that  could  furnish 
stereopticon  slides  which  they  could  use.  In  the 
task  of  cooperating  with  these  foreign  church  leaders 
already  scattered  broadcast  over  America,  much  can 
be  done.  Few  of  these  men  have  yet  been  Ameri 
canized.  One  of  them  expressed  to  me  the  opinion 
that  all  the  churches  of  America  are  sold  to  money ; 
they  do  not  dare  speak  openly  for  the  rights  of  the 
workers,  and  in  strike  situations  they  side  with  the 
capitalist.  "They  have  betrayed  their  Christ  for 
a  mess  of  pottage.  They  are  sold  to  the  devil." 
Surely  if  our  Christian  forces  should  not  only  try 
to  Americanize  the  Protestant  Russian  students,  but 
the  Russian  priests  as  well,  they  would  multiply 
their  effectiveness. 


Chapter  VII 
EELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

First  impressions.— The  majority  of  Russians  and 
Ruthenians  are  almost  as  completely  isolated  from 
the  American  people  as  if  they  were  in  the  heart  of 
giant  Russia.  They  have  no  points  of  contact  with 
the  sound  elements  of  American  life.  The  dream  of 
the  Russian  as  he  leaves  his  native  shore  is  that 
everything  is  beautiful  in  America.  It  is  the  land 
of  liberty  and  equality  but  he  begins  to  feel  that 
perhaps  he  has  been  hoodwinked  almost  as  soon  as 
he  reaches  Ellis  Island.  The  Russians  claim  that 
the  coarse  and  brutal  treatment  they  receive  at  the 
immigrant  stations  is  far  worse  than  that  in  the 
Russia  of  the  Tsars.  Certainly  the  wholesale  tag 
ging  of  the  immigrant,  the  physical  inspection,  the 
turning  back  of  the  eyelids,  rushed  through  with  ma 
chine-like  regularity  resembles  more  the  inspection 
of  cattle  than  of  thousands  of  human  souls.  Only 
this  year  Commissioner  Wallis,  head  of  the  immi 
grant  station  at  Ellis  Island,  has  complained  of  the 
methods  of  his  subordinates  who  seem  to  think  that 
an  immigrant's  time  is  worth  nothing  at  all.  It  is 
small  wonder  that  their  first  taste  of  liberty  does 
not  appeal.  Then  as  they  push  on  to  their  destina 
tion  at  Gary,  or  Pittsburgh,  or  Chicago,  there  is  no 
one  who  tries  to  help  them.  I  remember  meeting 
two  Russians  at  the  Grand  Central  Station  in  New 
York.  They  were  wandering  about  trying  to  find 
out  when  their  train  would  go.  Their  inquiries  in 
broken  English  met  no  response  from  the  busy  ticket 

104 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     105 

agent.  They  stood  beside  their  bags  and  baggage, 
a  little  picture  of  Eussia  in  New  York.  They  would 
ask  passers-by  about  the  train  but  at  no  time  did 
anyone  stop  more  than  to  say,  "We  don't  know." 
One  richly  dressed  woman  replied  as  she  would  to 
a  dog,  "Get  away  from  me."  The  look  on  their 
faces  when  I  helped  them  showed  how  deep  their 
perplexity  and  apprehension  had  been. 

Indeed,  the  treatment  at  Ellis  Island  and  in  the 
railroad  trains  frequently  awakens  other  sentiments 
than  love  for  the  new  home.  The  immigrant  has  to 
learn  at  once  the  dangers  of  exploitation  which 
await  him.  If  he  goes  into  the  railroad  dining  room 
he  is  usually  hustled  out.  If  he  follows  the  advice 
of  a  seemingly  kind  friend  as  to  where  to  eat  he  is 
often  robbed  of  his  money.  Sometimes  his  baggage 
is  stolen,  and  there  have  even  been  cases  of  the  ab 
duction  of  his  daughter  or  wife  before  he  has  been 
on  American  soil  twelve  hours.  At  best,  the  first 
impressions  of  America  are  discouraging  because 
the  treatment  of  a  vast  throng  of  incoming  strangers 
has  not  yet  been  put  on  a  friendly  enough  basis. 
We  still  are  doing  largely  only  the  things  that  will 
safeguard  America  from  undesirables  and  not 
enough  genuinely  to  help  the  foreigner. 

Real  Americanization.— Eeal  Americanization  is  a 
spiritual  thing.  It  means  that  the  Russian  or  Buthe- 
nian  loves  our  country  and  is  willing  to  sacrifice  in 
its  behalf.  This  love  can  be  created  only  by  his  ex 
periencing  that  which  is  worthy  of  loyalty  and  sac 
rifice.  If  you  are  traveling  in  England  your  opin 
ion  of  that  country  is  determined  by  your  experience 
with  the  English.  It  rests  with  them  more  than  it 
does  with  you.  In  the  same,  only  in  a  more  intensi 
fied  way,  because  the  Russian  does  not  speak  our 
language  and  knows  little  of  our  history  or  tradi 
tions,  he  must  judge  America  on  his  own  contacts 
with  our  people.  The  attitude  he  finally  adopts  for 


106    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

our  country  depends  not  so  much  on  him  as  on 
what  we  Americans  do  to  him. 

Industrial  relations. — After  his  first  general  im 
pressions  the  next  experience  is  in  his  job.  Here  he 
frequently  does  not  meet  with  Americans  at  all,  or 
if  he  does,  it  is  merely  for  a  formal  question  or  two 
and  for  registration  on  the  company's  books.  His 
real  point  of  contact  is  with  the  boss.  After  talking 
with  several  hundred  Eussian  workmen  I  found  that 
ninety  per  cent  or  more  fear  and  hate  the  boss. 
H.  W.  Anderson,  City  Secretary  for  Foreign  Born 
in  the  New  York  City  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  says, 

"The  Eussian  comes  to  see  America  through  the 
eyes  of  the  saloon  keeper,  the  paid  politician,  the 
partisan  press  and  the  propagandists.  These  all 
speak  his  language.  He  has  never  known  what  real 
patriotism  is.  He  has  ever  thought  of  the  govern 
ment  as  an  oppressor,  and  he  transfers  his  mistrust, 
suspicion,  and  hate  for  the  Eussian  government  to 
the  'boss'  where  he  works,  who  represents  to  him 
America.  The  'boss'  has  not  always  been  kind,  and 
the  Eussian  has  embodied  in  his  antagonism  for  him 
antagonism  for  America.  A  few  days  ago  we  wit 
nessed  a  typical  incident.  Something  had  gone 
wrong  with  the  work  of  some  Eussians.  The  men 
were  not  to  blame,  yet  the  young  American  foreman 

blamed  it  all  on  the lazy .    They  faced 

the  angry  tirade  of  the  foreman  with  stolid,  sullen 
faces  and  made  no  reply,  yet  in  their  hearts  they  reg 
istered  one  more  case  against  America." 

The  Eussians  and  Euthenians  frequently  know 
few  American  words  but  they  are  all  familiar  with 
the  common  epithet  the  boss  hurls  at  them,  "You 
God  damned  Polack." 

The  disregarding  of  all  racial  distinctions  simply 
accentuates  the  insult.  The  Eussian  soon  learns 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE    107 

that  he  is  valued  merely  for  his  producing  power. 
F.  C.  Howe,  former  Commissioner  of  Immigration 
at  Ellis  Island,  says,1  "because  they  have  been  bro 
ken  down  in  the  industrial  machine  .  .  .  America 
refuses  to  assume  the  costs  and  consequences  of  its 
own  industrial  processes.  It  makes  no  provision  for 
human  depreciation,  obsolescence  or  decay.  It  does 
this  for  its  machines,  but  not  for  its  human  beings. " 
Many  of  the  Eussian  priests  claim  their  workmen 
get  little  or  no  compensation  even  in  industrial  acci 
dents.  They  cite  case  after  case  of  which  the  follow 
ing  is  merely  one  illustration,  from  Father  Kozuboff 
in  Hartford  who  said,  "In  the  hospital  now  there 
lies  a  man  whose  legs  were  crushed  when  a  bucket 
for  loading  coal  broke  loose  from  the  chain.  The 
doctor  says  he  can  never  walk,  yet  when  he  leaves 
the  hospital  he  gets  nothing,  for  he  has  no  witnesses 
to  the  accident."  Whether  or  not  these  statements 
are  exaggerated,  the  Eussian  is  a  mere  cog  in  the 
machine  of  production.  Indeed  he  does  not  receive 
the  care  that  parts  of  a  machine  do.  They  are  con 
stantly  oiled  and  protected.  Every  possible  care  is 
taken  of  them,  and  when  the  machine  is  not  in  use 
a  guard  is  kept  on  the  premises.  But  for  the  human 
cog,  little  thought  is  taken.  He  can  over-work,  he 
can  eat  bad  food,  he  can  sleep  in  rooms  ill-venti 
lated  and  unsanitary  and  the  employer  seemingly 
cares  nothing.  When  the  Eussian  "lays  off"  the 
job  there  is  too  often  no  human  guard  from  the  fac 
tory  to  see  what  can  be  done  to  help  and  protect 
him.  If  the  cog  is  smashed  to  smithereens  or  even 
only  injured  so  that  he  needs  patching,  the  accident 
insurance  covers  the  costs.  The  cog  can  be  replaced 
immediately  without  cost  by  a  new  Eussian  or  Eu- 
thenian.  If  the  machine  is  broken  it  means  delay  in 
production  and  new  initial  costs.  In  a  large  iron 
plant  I  visited  in  the  summer  of  1920  the  doctor  told 

*  The  Nation,  February  14,  1920. 


108    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

me  that  an  average  of  one-fifth  of  the  working  force 
visited  the  dispensary  every  month.  ' l  Most  of  them 
come  from  accidents  to  their  eyes.  We  have  not  yet 
secured  glasses  which  can  be  worn  in  the  intense 
heat  of  the  blast  furnace, "  said  he.  Mr.  Healy  of 
the  International  Brotherhood  of  Stationary  Fire 
man  once  went  to  the  head  of  a  great  industrial  cor 
poration  on  behalf  of  their  striking  foreign  work 
men.  That  employer  absolutely  refused  to  consider 
an  increase  of  pay.  He  said,  "They  are  not  worth 
any  more  to  us ;  they  are  only  cattle. ' ' 

This  brutal  disregard  of  the  human  side  of  the 
Eussian  and  Euthenian  is  what  they  feel  most 
keenly.  As  a  common  laborer,  Mr.  "Whiting  Wil 
liams,  a  warm-hearted  employer,  himself  went  into 
the  steel  mills  and  worked  during  the  summer  of 
1919.  When  he  came  out  he  said,  ' '  The  relation  be 
tween  the  large  employer  and,  for  the  most  part, 
the  foreign-born  and  foreign-speaking  workers  in 
the  labor  gangs"  is  expressed  by  the  phrase  of  the 
workers,  "Aw,  w'at  da  hell!  W'at  da  hell  da  com- 
panee  care  'bout  us?"  Mr.  Williams  concludes  that 
the  astounding  ignorance  of  the  worker  "concern 
ing  the  plans  and  purposes,  the  aims  and  ideals,  the 
character  of  the  other  human  element  in  the  same 
problem,  his  employer,  is  unequaled  by  anything  I 
can  think  of — unless  it  is  his  employer's  ignorance 
of  him!  To  each  the  other  stands  as  the  <X'  in  the 
equation  of  the  factory  organization.  Of  course; 
and  who  is  most  to  blame,  the  ignorant  Eussian  who 
does  not  even  speak  English,  the  product  of  an  auto 
cratic  Tsar's  government,  continually  abused  by  the 
boss,  or  the  employer  who  has  had  every  advantage 
that  our  boasted  American  liberty  can  give  ?  Listen 
to  Theodore  Eoosevelt  as  he  lays  the  blame  where 
it  belongs:  "Any  employer  who  fails  to  recognize 
that  human  rights  come  first  and  that  friendly  re 
lationship  between  himself  and  those  working  for 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     109 

him  should  be  one  of  partnership  and  comradeship 
in  mutual  help  no  less  than  self-help,  is  recreant  to 
his  duty  as  an  American  citizen. ' ' 

Furthermore,  after  the  scare  about  Russian  Bol 
sheviks  had  been  widely  flaunted  by  our  press,  the 
Russians  began  to  be  laid  off  right  and  left  simply 
on  account  of  their  nationality.  The  inevitable  re 
sult  was  that  whereas  these  men  had  been  good  hon 
est  workers  they  became  embittered  and  radical. 
This  is  expressed  in  a  letter  of  an  educated  Eussian 
from  Worcester,  Mass.:  "Many  thousands  of  Rus 
sians  in  this  country  while  they  work  have  hardly 
enough  to  live  on,  and  now  that  the  war  is  ended, 
they  are  discharged  from  factories,  and  told,  'you 
are  a  Bolshevik.'  Many  of  them  do  not  know  what 
Bolshevism  and  what  capitalism  mean  but  they  make 
real  Bolsheviks  out  of  them."  Several  large  firms 
frankly  told  me  that  they  refused  employment  to 
Russians.  "We  can  get  plenty  of  other  nationali 
ties,"  said  one  employer,  "why  take  Bolsheviks!" 
Unfortunately  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Russian 
worker,  it  does  not  seem  quite  so  fair.  He  comes  to 
our  country,  works  seven  years  in  the  steel  plant, 
loses  his  best  strength  in  the  work  and  then  is  laid 
off  because  the  Bolsheviks  seize  control  in  Russia. 
Can  one  wonder  if  some  give  up  the  struggle?  On 
the  bodies  of  two  such  Russians  who  were  found 
dead  on  the  railroad  track,  this  explanation  was 
found,  "We  prefer  death  to  starvation.  Have 
worked  in  the  hell  of  a  steel  plant  for  seven  years. 
Now  they  discharge  us  and  we  can't  find  a  job." 

During  the  recent  steel  strike  the  Russians  stayed 
out  loyally  even  after  their  meager  funds  had  been 
exhausted.  "We  didn't  start  the  strike,"  said  one 
to  me,  "Americans  are  at  the  head  of  it.  They  told 
us  that  we  would  be  traitors  to  our  fellow  workmen 
if  we  did  not  support  the  strike.  Now  we  have  done 
it  for  the  sake  of  the  others  and  the  newspapers  call 


110    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

us  'reds,'  'dogs/  'I.  W.  W.'s.'  "  After  the  strike 
was  lost,  many  of  the  firms  refused  to  take  back  the 
Eussians.  One  who  was  refused  employment  fol 
lowing  the  strike  happened  to  have  his  apartment 
adjoining  the  steel  plant.  After  two  months'  search 
he  found  a  job  in  a  mill  one  hour  away  from  his 
home  by  street  car.  He  worked  eleven  hours  a  day 
one  week  and  thirteen  hours  a  night  the  next.  On 
his  night  shift  fifteen  hours  were  spent  daily  at  his 
work  and  in  traveling  to  and  fro.  It  is  small  wonder 
that  his  wife  was  bitterly  discouraged  over  the  out 
look.  Yet  the  man  had  an  American  flag  over  his 
bed  as  well  as  a  religious  picture.  His  wife  ex 
plained  to  me  that  when  he  can  get  away  from  his 
work  he  goes  to  church,  and  that  before  they  had 
become  disillusioned  by  the  heartlessness  of  the 
corporations  they  had  believed  in  America.  Now 
she  says,  "We  know  America  means  money.  We 
Eussians  are  only  like  flies,  too  small — company 
doesn't  care."  I  have  talked  with  hundreds  of 
Eussian  workmen  and  find  their  reactions  to  their 
industrial  experience  are  much  the  same.  Listen  to 
what  they  say : * 

"Before  war,  very  good;  but  now  all,  no  matter 
what  nationality,  laid  off  on  least  excuse.  If  horse 
no  can  pull  wagon,  put  on  another  horse.  If  man 
no  can  pull  truck,  lay  him  off." 

"Foreman  very  severe ;  sometimes  lay  off  day  for 
being  minute  late.  Eush  so  at  work  that  you  almost 
faint.  Treatment  worse  now  since  it  is  very  easy 
to  replace  men." 

"Boss  very  hard.  Fired  one  man,  he  was  in  his 
place  two  minutes  before  whistle  blew  to  enter 
shop." 

"Bosses  very  unreasonable.    One  man  left  truck 

*Some   of   these   quotations   are   taken   from  Mr.   Cole's  Chicago 
Btudy,  others  were  spoken  to  me  directly. 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     111 

to  get  drink  and  boss  fired  him.  Have  to  bribe  boss 
to  keep  job." 

"If  he  were  good  would  not  be  boss.  Boss  like 
dog  always  snapping  and  swearing  at  everybody. " 

"Too  strict  about  time;  if  one  minute  late,  dock 
one-half  hour.  Getting  worse  all  the  time.  Often 
work  so  hard  get  weak  and  when  tell  foreman  he 
says  we  are  drunk. " 

"All  people  treat  Russian  like  dog." 

"America  place  like  Heaven  for  rich  but  like  hell 
for  foreign  worker." 

"America  is  not  free  for  workers.  He  is  beast 
like  horse." 

I  realize  perfectly  that  these  are  one-sided  ex 
pressions.  Part  of  the  fault  lies  with  the  inherited 
traits  and  European  background  of  the  foreigner, 
yet  they  do  indicate  his  psychological  viewpoint. 

The  colossal  profits  made  by  the  steel  and  coal 
companies  are  well  known  to  the  worker.  He  knows 
that  the  companies  charge  the  public  "all  the  traf- 
£c  will  bear"  and  it  makes  his  arduous  task  and 
meager  wage  all  the  harder  to  bear.  Statements 
such  as  McAdoo  is  reported  to  have  made,  that  many 
of  the  coal  companies  made  a  thousand  per  cent 
profit  during  the  war,  are  well  known  to  many  of 
the  Russians  and  Ruthenians.  Furthermore  there 
is  so  much  truth  in  the  profiteering  charges  that  they 
cannot  merely  be  denied.  The  foreigner  would  re 
fuse  to  believe  it.  He  feels  that  he  is  the  one  who 
does  the  work  and  so  is  entitled  to  the  profit.  The 
actual  fact  of  his  bare  subsistence  wage  in  contrast 
to  the  profits  of  the  concern  makes  his  mind  fertile 
soil  for  the  work  of  clever  American  agitators.  This 
actual  industrial  Americanization  now  going  on  is 
breeding  a  hatred  for  America  and  a  contempt  for 
our  life.  The  worker  characterizes  it  as  a  class  rule 
for  the  benefit  of  the  capitalist. 


112    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Social  relations.— While  industrial  Americaniza 
tion  is  doing  its  deadening  work,  the  Russian's  so 
cial  relations  in  our  country  are  paving  the  way  for 
a  still  more  distorted  view  of  America.  After  his 
job,  his  impressions  of  America  are  next  influenced 
by  the  little  Jewish  grocery  and  meat  market  on 
the  corner  from  which  he  buys  his  food.  There  are 
few  vegetables  and  what  are  obtainable  are  old  and 
the  storekeeper  says  that  the  exorbitant  prices  are 
due  to  capitalistic  speculation.  In  giving  the  great 
est  need  of  the  Russians  to  a  government  bureau,  a 
Russian  from  Gary,  Indiana,  said,  "We  need  fresh 
food  products  and  fresh  meat,  and  there  is  no  such 
meat  now  in  America. "  He  spoke  from  his  limited 
experience. 

After  an  analysis  of  medical  advertisements  in 
Russian  papers,  Mr.  Michael  M.  Davis  of  the  Boston 
Dispensary,  the  head  of  the  department  on  Health 
Standards  of  the  Americanization  Study  of  the  Car 
negie  Corporation,  says  that  they  are  "very  ob 
viously  fakes."  Here  is  a  sample  of  one  advertise 
ment:  "This  is  the  only  doctor  from  the  old 
country. ' ' 

"Fellow-citizens:  look  for  help  where  you  can 
find  it,  which  will  bring  you  out  on  the  right  path, 
This  is  the  only  doctor  from  the  old  country.  He 
speaks  Russian  and  has  a  practice  of  twenty-fivt 
years.  He  cures  with  the  best  remedies  chronic  and 
all  diseases.  Do  not  lose  any  time.  Come  promptly 
to  his  office.  Advice  free." 

Naturally  when  the  doctor  once  gets  his  hands  on 
the  Russian,  the  latter  does  not  come  forth  until  he 
has  paid  all  that  can  be  squeezed  from  him  and 
sometimes  he  is  heavily  in  debt.  To  the  Russian 
the  doctor  is  another  side  of  America,  which  stands 
for  money  rather  than  friendship. 

When  the  Russian  has  steady  work  and  has  saved 
something  he  must  either  keep  it  himself,  which  is 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE    113 

dangerous,  or  bank  it.  So  when  he  sees  a  large 
sign  in  Russian,  "The  State  Bank,"  he  hands  over 
his  money  for  safe  keeping  there.  The  Hon.  C.  J. 
Keenan,  Deputy  Appraiser  of  the  Port  of  New  York, 
said  at  a  recent  conference,  "The  people  of  foreign 
countries  generally  look  upon  a  bank  as  a  govern 
ment  institution,  which  accounts  for  the  practice  so 
prevalent  among  them  of  patronizing  private  bank 
ing  institutions  after  they  come  to  this  country.  An 
enterprising  foreign-born  citizen  will  oftentimes, 
after  reaching  a  certain  stage  of  prosperity,  open 
a  bank  with  the  legend  ' State  Bank7  over  the  door." 
Naturally  whatever  happens  in  this  bank  is  attrib 
uted  to  the  government.  Usually  the  Russian  does 
not  receive  any  interest,  he  can  feel  fortunate  if  he 
ever  gets  his  money  back.  Thousands  and  thousands 
of  dollars  are  stolen  annually — the  banks  simply 
disappear  as  do  all  the  funds. 

The  Russian  is  a  constant  prey  to  exploitation. 
His  rent  may  be  raised  at  any  time  and  the  agent, 
representing  wealthy  Americans,  is  as  likely  to  be 
a  foreigner  as  an  American.  "When  he  is  an  Amer 
ican,"  as  a  Russian  priest  explained  to  me,  "he  is 
very  polite  as  long  as  he  thinks  he  can  get  your 
money.  To  illustrate  this:  one  insurance  agent 
crossed  himself  as  he  opened  my  door.  After  he 
received  my  order  he  went  out  slamming  the  door 
and  spitting  on  the  porch.  Others  come  to  see  me 
to  get  the  rent  and  they  will  offer  me  a  cigarette,  but 
if  they  don't  have  any  business,  they  won't  even  talk 
with  me  and  many  of  them  won't  recognize  me  the 
next  day  on  the  street — that  is  the  soul  of  America. ' ' 
If  to  an  educated  priest  this  is  the  soul  of  America, 
what  must  it  be  to  the  poor,  ignorant  Russian. 

Even  the  advertisements  printed  in  the  papers 
seek  to  exploit  the  Russian.  In  the  RussJcy  Golos 
during  1920  a  corporation  in  a  showy  advertisement 
offered  stock  in  a  steamship  company  at  $25  per 


114    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

share  with  the  proviso  that  these  shares  could  later 
be  exchanged  toward  a  steamship  ticket  to  Eussia 
which  would  cost  from  $125-$250.  Yet  a  representa 
tive  of  a  prominent  social  agency  reported  "that 
the  investigation  proves  that  the  whole  concern 
must  be  considered  a  fake  one."  The  following  is 
a  sample  of  a  patent  medicine  advertisement: 

"  Every  Eussian  Mother 

knows  that  the  only  certain  medicine  for  the  crying 
and  discomfort  and  sleeplessness  of  her  baby  is 
'Eomko'  manufactured  by  the  Baby  Safety  Com 
pany.  Do  not  let  your  baby  cry  and  suffer  for  hours. 
If  your  child  has  a  stomach  ache  or  suffers  from 
constipation;  if  its  teeth  are  coming  and  it  is  sick 
for  this  reason;  if  it  cries  and  is  discontented,  do 
not  wait  one  minute,  but  buy  in  the  local  drug  store, 
for  thirty-five  cents,  a  bottle  of  'Eomko,'  manufac 
tured  by  the  Baby  Safety  Company.  If  you  cannot 
get  the  original  there,  send  a  paper  dollar  for  three 
bottles,  or  stamps  thirty-five  cents  for  one  bottle,  to 
the  following  address : ' ' 

Thousands  of  dollars  are  likewise  extracted  from 
Russians  in  the  process  of  sending  money  to  friends 
in  Europe.  The  recent  revolution  and  war  was 
made  use  of  by  clever  manipulators  who  elected 
themselves  "Aid  Committees  for  Eussian  Suffer 
ers.  "  One  of  the  priests  showed  me  a  very  elabo 
rate  circular  appealing  for  funds  for  suffering  Eus 
sia,  by  which  he  claimed  thousands  had  been  raised 
and  spent  on  the  committee.  The  effect  of  every 
swindle  can  readily  be  seen  in  the  following  letter 
of  a  Eussian: 

"At  first  I  believed  in  everything  in  America 
with  an  open  soul.  But  in  1917  I  decided  to  study 
automobiles.  I  paid  $50  for  a  course  and  for  this 
money  I  had  the  pleasure  of  riding  in  an  automo- 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     115 

bile  six  times.  There  is  much  injustice  going  onr 
and  without  knowing  the  American  law,  one  is 
always  guilty. " 

Another  Russian  workman  in  California  writes 
about  his  experience  in  trying  to  buy  a  farm  in 
America.  The  first  time  he  was  swindled  out  of 
his  money  with  a  forged  document.  The  second 
time  a  seemingly  official  "Russian- American  agent " 
in  Salt  Lake  City  sold  thirty-five  Eussian  families 
land  '  '  and  when  we  all  arrived  at  the  place  we  found 
a  waterless  desert.  That  is  what  is  happening  to 
the  Russian  people  in  America. " 

Even  representatives  of  the  Russian  Orthodox 
Church  have  not  been  above  some  questionable 
methods.  One  of  the  priests  told  me  that  his  prede 
cessor  borrowed  from  the  workmen  thousands  of 
dollars  to  build  a  church  on  the  promise  that  he 
would  return  the  money  as  soon  as  the  church  was 
built.  "Now  the  church  is  built, "  added  the  priest, 
"and  of  course  I  can't  return  any  of  the  funds. " 

It  is  true  much  of  this  exploitation  is  done  by  for 
eigners,  but  the  lamentable  fact  is  that  there  are  so 
few  American  agencies  which  are  counteracting  its 
evil  effects.  We  have  a  few  Americanization  Com 
mittees,  Y.  W.  C.  A.'s  and  churches  which  are  work 
ing  to  this  end,  but  the  results  are  almost  infinitesi 
mal  compared  with  the  need.  The  welfare  work 
only  reaches  a  fraction  of  the  people  a  fraction  of 
the  time.  Social  contacts  go  on  steadily  day  and 
night  for  every  Russian.  In  this,  the  social  side  of 
their  life,  which  could  be  made  a  real  source  of  un 
derstanding  normal  American  life,  the  Russian  is 
meeting  far  too  often  merely  exploitation  or  neglect, 

RELATIONS  WITH  GOVERNMENTAL  AUTHORITIES 

Income  tax.— Undoubtedly  the  first  place  where 
the  Russian  and  Ruthenian  are  touched  today  by 


116    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

the  government,  after  they  have  gone  through  Ellis 
Island,  is  in  the  income  tax.  In  regard  to  this  law 
the  Foreign  Language  Governmental  Information 
Service  Bureau  of  our  Federal  government  says, 
"Many  '  non-resident  aliens'  for  instance,  were 
taxed  12%  of  their  gross  earnings  and  allowed  no 
exemptions,  in  spite  of  the  provisions  allowing  ex 
emptions  to  subjects  of  certain  countries.  It  is 
neither  necessary  nor  possible  to  go  into  details 
here.  This  bureau  has  complete  records  of  thou 
sands  of  aliens  who  were  overtaxed. ' ' x  This  law 
provided  a  means  of  exemption  for  Eussians,  but 
there  was  no  one  to  explain  its  provisions  to  the 
ignorant  immigrant.  Of  one  hundred  employers 
only  fifteen  took  the  trouble  to  explain  it  to  their 
employees  in  their  own  language.  Yet  after  1918 
the  government  made  the  employer  responsible  for 
the  collection  of  the  tax  and  required  the  payment  of 
back  taxes.  The  injustice  of  collecting  back  taxes 
on  eight  per  cent  of  the  total  income  of  a  Russian 
workman  is  obvious.  In  some  cases  it  amounted  to 
from  $50-$100.  How  was  the  Eussian  to  meet  his 
expenses  during  the  period  he  was  not  receiving 
money  from  his  employer?  One  letter  out  of  hun 
dreds  to  this  bureau 2  from  Eussians  will  show  the 
perplexity  of  even  the  educated  ones : 

"April  5, 1919. 

"Natrona,  Pa. 

"I  beg  the  Eussian  Bureau  to  help  me.  The  Eus 
sian  immigrants  are  not  able  to  pay  the  war  taxes. 
Some  time  ago  I  read  in  the  papers  that  only  those 
who  earned  more  than  $1,000  a  year  have  to  pay 
the  tax  and  only  on  what  they  earned  over  $1,000, 
-and  I  have  paid  $12.07.  But  now  in  the  factory  they 

'From    bulletin,    What    is   the    Foreign   Language    Governmental 
Information  Service  Bureau? 

"Foreign  Language  Governmental  Information  Service  Bureau. 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     117 

withhold  more,  and  tell  me  that  I  myself  have  to 
pay  $145  for  last  year,  and  if  I  have  to  pay  for  this 
year  also,  I  will  have  to  pay  more  than  $300.  And 
so  I  have  to  work,  but  do  not  get  money  to  live  on. 
And  please  explain  why  they  force  us  to  take  out 
the  American  papers.  Those  who  do  not  want  to 
take  the  papers  are  put  out  of  work.  And  if  I  take 
the  papers  will  I  be  able  to  go  back  to  Russia?  And 
why  did  they  put  the  Eussian  people  in  such  help 
less  position?  They  do  not  allow  us  to  return  to 
Eussia,  and  here  it  is  now  impossible  to  live. 

"And  I  beg  the  Eussian  Bureau  to  answer  my 
prayer,  and  tell  me  what  is  going  to  become  of  the 
Eussian  immigrants. ' ' 

The  attitude  of  some  of  the  U.  S.  Internal  Eevenue 
officers  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  President 
of  the  Eussian  Society  of  Engineers  in  Chicago  was 
refused  an  exemption  blank  by  the  officer  until  he 
forced  the  matter  to  the  assistant  Collector  himself. 
He  says,  "The  other  Eussians  do  not  know  where 
to  get  their  rights  and  have  to  take  out  first  papers, 
or  pay  enormous  taxes. "  A  government  agent  re 
ports  that  in  a  large  Ohio  city  "the  Assistant  In 
ternal  Eevenue  officer  told  me  that  he  believed  every 
Eussian  was  a  trouble  maker ;  that  since  these  Eus 
sians  do  not  want  to  take  out  their  first  papers  they 
should  not  be  entitled  to  exemptions,  that,  further 
more,  he  did  not  consider  it  his  business  to  instruct 
employees  how  to  proceed  with  the  various  forms. 
From  further  talk  with  this  officer  I  understand  that 
no  Eussian  will  ever  get  justice  if  he  applies  to  this 
office. " 

To  illustrate  still  further  the  injustice  of  this  law 
take  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company.  This  firm  em 
ploys  about  10,000  Eussians.  They  are  entitled  to 
tax  exemptions  if  they  fill  out  a  sworn  statement,, 
but  the  company  has  found  it  easier  to  continue 


> 


118    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

ducting  the  amount  from  wages.  They  have  not 
the  office  force  to  handle  these  blanks  and  the  in 
quiries  which  would  result.  A  government  agent  re 
ports,  "  These  Eussians  decided  that  it  is  best  to 
suffer  injustice  from  the  American  Government  than 
to  ask  or  insist  on  their  rights.  Their  previous  ex 
perience,  in  matters  of  this  sort  has  taught  them 
a  good  and  costly  lesson.  Their  complaints  are 
usually  unheeded,  and  call  forth  new  repressions. " 
Hence  the  Russians  continue  to  feel  they  are  being 
cheated  and  the  work  of  "  Americanization  "  goes  on. 
Laws  against  foreigners.— The  Eussians  and 
Euthenians  soon  find  that  they  are  also  discrimi 
nated  against  in  the  laws  of  the  various  states.  I 
quote  from  the  translation  of  an  article  which  ap 
peared  in  the  Eussian  newspaper  Russki  Slovo  on 
April  13th,  1920. 

"Americans  cannot  understand  why  foreigners 
who  have  lived  here  for  a  certain  time  are  in  a  hurry 
to  return  to  their  home.  Here  are  some  of  the  laws 
enacted  against  them:  'In  the  state  of  Nebraska, 
the  foreigners  have  no  right  to  have  meetings  ex 
cept  for  religious  purposes. 

'  '  In  the  state  of  Oregon,  foreigners  have  no  right 
to  read  newspapers  and  magazines  which  are  not 
printed  in  English.  The  same  law  is  proposed  in 
the  states  of  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  New  York. 

"In  New  Hampshire,  the  law  forbids  the  employ 
ment  of  people  between  16-21  years,  if  they  do  not 
know  the  English  language. 

"In  the  states  of  Michigan,  New  Hampshire, 
Tennessee,  and  Washington,  foreigners  have  no 
right  to  teach. 

"In  the  states  of  New  York  and  Illinois  the 
widows  of  foreigners  have  no  right  to  the  pensions 
allowed  by  law  to  American  citizens. 

"In  the  states  of  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Con- 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     119 

necticut,  Washington,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Maryland, 
Oregon,  and  New  Hampshire  in  case  of  accident,  a 
foreigner  does  not  receive  the  compensations  which 
are  due  to  American  citizens  in  the  same  case. 

"In  the  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  New  Jer 
sey,  California,  Arizona,  Rhode  Island,  Idaho,  New 
Mexico,  and  Wyoming,  foreigners  cannot  be  em 
ployed  on  public  works. 

'  *  In  the  state  of  Idaho  a  foreigner  can  be  accepted 
for  work  in  a  factory  only  if  he  has  his  first  citizen 
ship  papers. 

"In  the  states  of  Illinois,  California,  Minnesota, 
Idaho,  Texas,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Indiana,  Mon 
tana,  Arizona,  Oklahoma,  Kentucky,  Iowa,  Missouri, 
foreigners  have  no  right  to  own  property,  or  the 
ownership  is  limited  between  5-20  years. 

"If  the  work  of  the  foreigner  is  appreciated,  if 
he  is  needed  in  the  mines  and  in  the  construction  of 
subways  and  for  works  in  factories  and  on  farms, 
he  must  be  given  human  rights  and  must  not  be 
offended  at  every  step." 

These  laws  may  have  some  good  purpose,  but  they 
do  not  make  for  friendship  with  the  foreigner.  They 
but  continue  the  wrong  type  of  Americanization. 

Arrests  during  strikes. — Nothing  has  been  writ 
ten  in  recent  times  which  so  tellingly  portrays  the 
injustice  of  our  present  legal  machinery  as  the  bulle 
tin  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation,  Justice  and  the 
Poor;  a  study  of  the  present  denial  of  justice  to 
the  poor.  In  the  introduction,  after  admitting  the 
failure  of  our  legal  machinery  to  keep  pace  with 
legislation,  it  pleads  for  the  equality  of  all  men 
before  the  law  and  says:  "For  no  group  in  the 
citizenship  of  the  country  is  this  more  needed  than 
in  the  case  of  the  great  mass  of  citizens  of  foreign 
birth,  ignorant  of  the  language,  and  helpless  to  se 
cure  their  rights  unless  met  by  an  administration 


120    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

of  the  machinery  of  justice  that  shall  be  simple, 
sympathetic,  and  patient.  To  such  the  apparent 
denial  of  justice  forms  the  path  to  disloyalty  and 
bitterness. "  The  author  of  this  study  which  has 
been  highly  praised  by  no  less  a  legal  authority  than 
Elihu  Root  says  in  regard  to  the  administration  of 
justice :  "  You  can  work  as  hard  as  you  like  to  teach 
the  foreign-born  resident  to  love  American  institu 
tions,  but  if  he  doesn't  get  fair  treatment  when  he 
comes  in  contact  with  those  institutions,  he  will 
think  they  do  not  deserve  his  respect. " 

To  any  impartial  observer  of  the  facts,  it  is  appar 
ent  particularly  in  a  strike  situation,  that  justice  is 
not  meted  out  to  the  Russian.  Ordinarily  thousands 
of  special  deputies  are  sworn  in,  and  in  the  steel 
strike  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  3,000.  Fre 
quently  these  men  are  in  the  pay  of  the  factory  own 
ers.  The  writer  was  a  witness  of  conditions  in  the 
Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  textile  strike.  With  a 
clergyman  of  New  York  he  was  forcibly  ordered 
back  off  the  public  sidewalk  simply  because  he  dared 
walk  by  a  mill;  he  saw  the  police  ride  upon  the 
sidewalk  following  strikers  peacefully  walking  on 
the  streets.  Although  there  was  a  state  law  per 
mitting  peaceful  picketing,  he  heard  a  police  officer 
who  arrested  Russians  on  strike  swear  in  court  that 
he  knew  of  no  such  law.  He  saw  the  Russians  come 
into  the  Union  meetings  with  heads  bandaged,  claim 
ing  to  have  been  arrested  and  beaten  by  the  police. 
In  the  steel  centers  he  heard  tale  after  tale  of  op 
pression  and  brutality  on  Ihe  part  of  the  police 
which,  if  true,  rivalled  the  work  of  the  Cos 
sacks  under  the  Tsar  in  Russia.  Here  are  two  Rus 
sians  who  attempted  to  go  to  another  town  in  Penn 
sylvania  during  the  strike.  As  they  jump  off  the 
train  they  are  arrested  by  two  deputies  with  drawn 
revolvers  and  forced  to  pay  a  fine  for  vagrancy  be 
sides  being  banished  from  the  town.  Here  is  an- 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     121 

other  Russian  who  claims  the  police  came  right  into 
his  house  and  arrested  him  without  warrant  after 
his  foreman  had  begged  him  to  return  to  work  and 
he  had  refused.  The  Eussian  priest  in  Braddock 
told  me  that  in  a  strike  when  two  Russians  were 
seen  on  the  street  speaking  Russian  they  were  ar 
rested.  Rev.  Kazencz,  a  Ruthenian  priest,  testified 
before  the  U.  S.  Senate  Committee  that  the  con 
stabulary  charged  on  children  who  were  in  a  school 
yard  in  sight  of  their  parents  in  order  to  provoke 
the  strikers  to  riot. 

And  so  the  incidents  with  their  tragic  aspect  could 
be  multiplied  a  thousand  fold.  Whether  they  are  all 
true  or  not,  the  plain  fact  remains  that  many  for 
eigners  do  not  get  justice  in  our  law  courts.  They 
have  not  the  money  for  lawyers7  fees.  The  in 
trenched  forces  of  law  and  order  are  naturally  be 
lieved  before  the  ignorant  foreigner.  But  most  of 
the  Russians  and  Ruthenians  who  have  passed 
through  a  strike  believe  the  administration  of  jus 
tice  to  be  a  mockery.  They  are  continuing  their 
course  in  "Americanization"  with  the  result  that 
their  opinion  of  America  has  been  steadily  falling. 

Arthur  Woods,  formerly  Police  Commissioner  of 
New  York  City,  says  in  regard  to  Americanizing  the 
alien  that  it  is  our  American  citizenship  which  is 
on  trial.  "There  is  no  agitator  in  this  world  as  po 
tent  as  injustice.  I  often  believe  that  there  is  no 
agitator  of  evil  we  need  to  fear  except  injustice."  * 

Arresting  "reds."—  The  climax  in  the  process  of 
making  America-haters  out  of  our  Russian  foreign 
ers  came  in  the  wholesale  raids  against  "reds." 
Judge  Anderson  has  sufficiently  characterized  the 
illegal  and  reprehensible  methods  employed  by  the 
U.  S.  Department  of  Justice.  He  says,  "A  mob  is 
a  mob,  whether  made  up  of  government  officials 

'From  an  address  in  the  Harvard  Union,  March  10,  1920. 
(Harvard  Alumni  Bulletin,  p.  581.) 


122    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

acting  under  instructions  from  the  Department  of 
Justice,  or  of  criminals,  loafers,  and  the  vicious 
classes."  A  still  more  stinging  report  headed 
"Illegal  Practices  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  Justice"  was  issued  in  May,  1920,  by  twelve  emi 
nent  lawyers  headed  by  Dean  Pound  of  the  Harvard 
Law  School.  It  says,  "Under  the  guise  of  a  cam 
paign  for  the  suppression  of  radical  activities,  the 
office  of  the  Attorney  General,  acting  by  its  local 
agents  throughout  the  country,  and  giving  express 
instructions  from  Washington,  has  committed  illegal 
acts.  Wholesale  arrests  both  of  aliens  and  citizens 
have  been  made  without  warrant  or  any  process  of 
law;  men  and  women  have  been  jailed  and  held  in- 
comunicado  without  access  of  friends  or  counsel; 
homes  have  been  entered  without  search-warrant 
and  property  seized  and  removed;  other  property 
has  been  wantonly  destroyed;  workingmen  and 
workingwomen  suspected  of  radical  views  have  been 
shamefully  abused  and  maltreated. "  The  heaviest 
brunt  of  this  illegal  oppression  has  fallen  on  the 
Eussian  for  he  was  supposed  to  have  Bolshevistic 
leanings.  Things  reached  such  a  pass  that  Francis 
Fisher  Kane  resigned  as  U.  S.  District  Attorney 
while  Judge  Thompson  of  Pittsburgh,  according  to 
the  newspapers,  made  the  following  comment  on  the 
case  of  a  Eussian  brought  to  trial  before  him.  ' '  This 
case  makes  my  blood  boil.  The  methods  of  the  De 
partment  of  Justice  have  created  more  anarchy  than 
all  the  radical  parties  put  together  and  conditions 
in  this  district  are  worse  than  they  were  in  Eussia. 
I  did  not  suppose  this  kind  of  thing  could  happen  in 
a  country  where  we  have  a  constitution. " 

One  can  hardly  realize  the  actual  conditions  with 
out  reading  the  actual  cases.  Theodore  Concevich, 
of  the  Church  of  All  Nations  in  New  York  City, 
says:  "Joseph  Polulech  is  a  young  Eussian  twenty- 
five  years  old.  He  was  in  America  eight  years.  He 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     123 

was  a  member  of  the  church  and  I  was  his  pastor. 
He  is  a  bright  young  man,  eager  to  learn.  He  was 
attending  a  night  school  run  by  the  Communist 
Party.  He  was  studying  English  and  algebra.  He 
was  not  a  communist,  but  he  was  made  an  officer  in 
the  school  because  of  his  faithfulness  and  intelli 
gence.  On  the  night  that  the  school  was  raided  by 
the  Lusk  Committee,  everybody  present  was  ar 
rested,  Joseph  Polulech  among  them.  I  and  others 
protested  to  the  Lusk  Committee  and  gave  our 
guarantee  that  young  Polulech  was  not  a  commu 
nist.  We  received  no  reply  to  our  protest.  Joseph 
Polulech  is  now1  among  249  aliens  who  are  locked 
up  in  cars  being  pushed  over  the  Finnish  frontier. ' ' 
Mr.  Concevich  added,  *  Russians  are  now  afraid  to 
attend  public  meetings  and  classes  for  fear  of  hav 
ing  the  police  raid  their  meeting  places  and  'beat 
them  up.'  " 

Mitchel  Layrowsky,  a  teacher  of  mathematics, 
swore  to  the  following:  "I  am  50  years  old.  I  am 
married  anci  have  two  children.  I  was  principal  of 
the  Iglitsky  High  School  for  15  years  in  Odessa, 
Eussia.  I  declared  my  intention  to  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States.  On  Nov.  7,  1919,  I  conducted 
a  class  at  137  East  15th  St.,  New  York.  At  about  8 
o  'clock  in  the  evening,  while  I  was  teaching  algebra 
and  Russian,  an  agent  of  the  Department  of  Justice 
opened  the  door  of  the  school,  walked  in  with  a  re 
volver  in  his  hands,  and  ordered  everybody  in  the 
school  to  step  aside.  Then  he  ordered  me  to  step 
toward  him.  I  wore  eye-glasses  and  the  agent  of 
the  Department  of  Justice  ordered  me  to  take  them 
off.  Then  he  struck  me  on  the  head  and  simulta 
neously  two  others  struck  me  and  beat  me  brutally. 
After  I  was  without  strength  to  stand  up,  I  was 
thrown  downstairs:  and  while  I  rolled  down,  other 
men  beat  me  with  pieces  of  wood,  which  I  later 
found  were  obtained  by  breaking  the  banisters.  I 


RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

sustained  a  fracture  of  the  head,  left  shoulder,  and 
right  side.  Then  I  was  ordered  to  wash  myself  and 
was  taken  to  13  Park  Row  where  I  was  examined 
and  released  about  midnight. ' ' x 

Alexander  Derkach  testifies  to  the  truth  of  the 
following : 

"I  was  taken  to  a  separate  room  and  beaten  up 
by  one  of  the  members  of  the  Bomb  Squad  of  New 
York  City.  He  hit  me  on  the  head  and  twice  in  the 
stomach,  and  I  fell  senseless.  I  was  taken  to  the 
lavatory  and  afterwards  I  was  seated  on  the  steps 
on  the  street — I  fell  down  the  steps — I  walked  away 
a  distance  of  several  blocks  and  fell  down  again. 
My  friends  came  and  carried  me  away." 

The  picture,  opposite  page  128,  is  an  actual  illus 
tration  of  the  condition  of  a  room  after  the  agents 
of  the  government  had  been  through  it. 

In  Duquesne,  Pennsylvania,  a  professor  of  a  gov 
ernment  bureau  lecturing  on  "Abraham  Lincoln 
and  American  Democracy "  to  Russians  was  arrested 
and  imprisoned  as  a  Bolshevik  because  he  lectured 
in  Russian.  It  took  the  government  thirty-six  hours 
to  free  its  own  agent.  He  says,  "After  they  found 
out  who  I  was  and  set  me  free,  I  asked  the  mayor 
of  the  city  whether  he  would  allow  me  to  deliver 
my  lectures  now.  He  said  that  he  would  not.  I  am 
convinced  that  no  propaganda  could  be  more  effec 
tive  in  spreading  animosity  towards  the  American 
government. ' ' 

The  picture  of  the  wife  of  a  "Russian  Bed,"  page 
32,  in  New  Jersey  shows  a  woman  whose  husband 
was  kept  in  jail  for  three  months  and  then  released. 
In  the  meanwhile  she  had  to  live  by  means  of  the 
charity  of  her  friends.  The  result  of  the  "red"  hys 
teria  and  threatened  Bolshevik  plots  as  given  out  by 

*  Illegal  Practices  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Justice. 


RELATIONS  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE     125 

the  Department  of  Justice  was  that  Russians  every 
where  suffered.  The  Greek  Orthodox  priest  in  Bos 
ton  told  me  that  things  reached  such  a  pass  in  his 
church  that  a  crowd  of  Americans  gathered  and 
threw  stones  and  tin  cans  at  anyone  who  entered 
the  church.  Once  he  even  had  to  get  a  policeman 
to  conduct  him  from  his  home  to  the  religious 
service. 

It  is  small  wonder  that  Russians  or  Ruthenians 
who  have  gone  through  conditions  like  these,  do  not 
love  America.  From  their  first  impressions  of  our 
country  down  through  their  industrial  and  social  ex 
periences,  through  their  relations  with  the  govern 
ment,  they  have  not  been  in  touch  with  the  America 
that  we  know.  This  was  strikingly  shown  in  my  ex 
perience.  With  the  authorization  of  the  Assistant 
Secretary  of  Labor,  Mr.  Post,  I  visited  Russian 
prisoners  in  Detroit  and  Pittsburgh.  Before  this  I 
had  talked  with  Russians  imprisoned  at  Ellis  Island 
and  Hartford.  In  my  interviews  I  asked  each  Rus 
sian  whether,  during  his  stay  in  America,  he  had 
ever  met  any  American  who  had  helped  him.  I  sug 
gested  that  perhaps  there  had  been  some  teacher, 
some  boss,  some  boarding  house  keeper  or  worker 
who  had  been  friendly  to  him.  Out  of  nearly  150 
arrested  Russians  there  were  only  five  who  had  ever 
met  any  such  help.  Of  these  American  friends  two 
had  been  workmen,  two  had  been  company  doctors 
and  one  had  been  a  teacher.  On  the  other  hand  all 
the  others  had  met  many  who  had  cursed  them, 
foremen  who  called  them  "Russian  swine, "  bosses 
who  were  continually  swearing  at  them.  America, 
according  to  their  stories,  had  been  for  the  most  part 
one  constant  struggle  against  bad  industrial  condi 
tions  and  exploitation.  One  could  but  feel  that  there 
was  not  so  much  bad  in  these  men  as  there  was  in 
our  American  conditions  which  could  force  these 
people,  helpless  and  needy  as  they  are,  to  endure 


126    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

such  treatment.  They  have  seen  where  we  are  fail 
ing  in  our  democratic  ideal;  they  have  seen  our  in 
consistencies.  It  can  hardly  be  considered  their 
fault  that  Americanization  to  them  spells  the  hard 
est  toil,  injustice,  or  unhappiness. 

The  following  answers  represent  the  spirit  of 
America  to  a  large  number  of  Eussian  workmen  and 
priests ;  they  are  surprisingly  alike :  "busy  and  busi 
ness,7'  "each  help  self,"  "rich  man's  land," 
"money,"  "love  of  self."  One  priest  took  me  to 
the  door  and  pointing  to  the  mountain  of  coal  dust 
and  cinders  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine  said,  "That 
is  the  heart  of  America." 

No  one  Eussian  would  meet  with  all  the  misfor 
tunes  herein  depicted,  but  the  overwhelming  ma 
jority  have  not  seen  the  real  America,  the  America 
that  stands  for  justice,  equality  of  opportunity, 
brotherliness.  I  believe  that  this  real  America  is 
everywhere.  Seme  of  the  Eussians  have  tasted  a 
little  of  its  goodness, — those  in  North  Dakota  had 
a  friendly  hand  extended  to  them  in  a  time  of  need. 
Today  they  are  loyal  Americans,  and  no  doubt  there 
are  thousands  of  others.  Our  task  is  to  enable  all 
the  Eussians  even  in  our  industries  and  mines  to 
feel  the  warm,  generous  heart  beat  of  our  people 
that  makes  America  dearer  to  us  than  any  other  land 
in  the  world. 

The  heart  of  America  is  sound  if  it  can  only  be 
reached  by  the  facts.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  church 
to  educate  its  membership  on  this  question,  to  pre 
sent  the  Christian  solution,  and  to  provide  program 
and  machinery  for  making  the  ideal  real. 


Chapter  VIII 
WHAT  OF  IT? 

A  lull  in  immigration.— Eussian  and  Buthenian 
immigration  was  practically  stopped  by  the  war. 
On  account  of  the  blockade  on  Bussia,  and  the  re 
sulting  unsettled  conditions,  its  resumption  has  been 
prevented  as  far  as  these  nations  are  concerned. 
This  halted  immigration  is  our  God-given  opportu 
nity  to  organize  our  forces  to  help  the  vast  army  of 
Eussians  and  Euthenians  who,  in  the  years  preced 
ing  the  war,  pressed  in  at  such  an  irresistible  pace 
that  the  Christian  church  was  overwhelmed.  This 
study  has  shown  our  defeat  in  the  past ;  no  one  can 
predict  what  defeat  in  the  future  may  mean. 

The  future  of  the  foreign  language  churches.— 
Without  incoming  immigration,  the  foreign  lan 
guage  churches  will  pass  away.  As  the  children  of 
the  Eussian  and  Euthenian  are  brought  up  in  Ameri 
can  schools,  they  forget  the  language  of  their  fa 
thers.  Comparatively  few  of  the  second  generation 
attend  the  foreign  language  churches  and  almost 
none  of  the  third  generation.  Even  one  of  the 
priests  in  the  Orthodox  church  told  me  that  if  immi 
gration  should  be  stopped  for  one  generation,  his 
church  would  either  have  to  be  closed  orreadapt  its 
service  into  the  English.  It  seems  probable  that  the 
halt  in  immigration  is  only  the  lull  in  the  storm  that 
predicts  a  still  greater  intensity.  It  would  not  be 
unlikely  if  the  poverty  and  misery  in  Eussia  and 
Galicia  should  drive  thousands  more  to  this  coun- 

127 


128    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

try.    In  the  meantime  our  faces  should  be  set  to  our 
present  task. 

The  church  a  force  in  racial  assimilation  and  na 
tional  unification.— The  Uniat  and  the  Greek  Ortho 
dox  Churches  in  the  past  can  hardly  claim  to  have 
been  a  force  in  racial  assimilation  and  national  uni 
fication.  Their  services  have  had  to  be  conducted  in 
the  Eussian  language.  Their  priests  have  not  them 
selves  seen  the  best  of  America ;  they  also  have  been' 
isolated.  On  the  other  hand,  the  work  of  the  Prot 
estant  churches  has  been  woefully  inadequate.  The 
total  Eussian  and  Euthenian  members  listed  in  the 
United  States  Census  of  Eeligious  Bodies  in  1916 
being  6,997/  as  compared  with  upwards  of  a  mil 
lion  Eussians  and  Euthenians  here.  This  was  in 
1916  and  since  then  there  has  been  a  tremendous 
growth,  but  even  in  1920  one  of  the  leading  Protes 
tant  denominations  had,  as  its  Eussian  minister  told 
me,  only  two  actual  members  although  there  were 
more  on  paper.  According  to  the  Eussian  pastor  of 
another  large  church,  the  total  Protestant  member 
ship  in  all  New  York  City  of  all  denominations  does 
not  exceed  three  hundred.  The  masses  of  these  na 
tionalities  have  been  untouched. 

Professors  Jenks  and  Lauck,  after  their  work  with 
the  United  States  Immigration  Commission,  wrote 
that  Americans  are  almost  completely  ignorant  and 
indifferent  to  the  recent  immigrants.  "This  atti 
tude  extends  even  to  the  native  churches,  and  very 
few  agencies  have  been  established  for  the  Ameri 
canization  and  assimilation  of  southern  and  Eastern 
European  wage-earners.  Not  only  is  there  a  great 
field  for  social  and  religious  work,  but  vast  possi 
bilities  are  offered  for  patriotic  service  in  improving 
serious  conditions  which  confront  a  self-governing 
republic."  In  spite  of  the  advance  which  has  been 
made  in  the  work,  this  is  almost  equally  true  today. 

a  This  includes  thirteen  mixed  churches  with  a  membership  of  3,488. 


WHAT  OF  IT?  129 

On  page  64  is  a  picture  of  a  group  of  Russians 
in  Pittsburgh.  They  are  the  men  who  are  doing  the 
hardest  work  in  our  factories.  The  picture  shows 
those  Russians  who  took  part  in  the  Americaniza 
tion  parade  on  July  4th,  1918.  Notice  that  nearly 
every  man  carries  an  American  flag.  Behind  them 
are  banners  reading:  "We  Russian  Workers  Stand 
by  President  Wilson, "  "Yes,  Greetings  to  the  Soviet 
Federative  Russian  Republic."  To  the  Russians 
then  there  was  nothing  necessarily  incongruous  in 
these  banners — the  one  indorsing  President  Wilson, 
the  other  the  Bolsheviks.  What  ought  to  be  done 
with  thousands  of  Russian  and  Ruthenian  foreign 
ers  such  as  these?  It  was  reported  that  what  actu 
ally  happened  in  this  instance  was  the  breaking  up 
of  the  parade  and  the  imprisonment  of  some  of  the 
flag  bearers.  Bolsheviks  or  brothers?  There  is  only 
one  Christian  answer  to  that  question. 

America  needs  the  Russian  and  Ruthenian.— Do 
we  realize  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  Russian  and  Ruthe 
nian?  We  need  them  in  our  industries.  A  promi 
nent  manufacturer  in  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  ad 
mitted  to  me  that  the  textile  mills  would  never  be 
able  to  keep  running  were  it  not  for  foreign  labor. 
"Americans  would  refuse  to  do  the  dirty  work," 
was  his  comment.  The  U.  S.  Immigration  Commis 
sion  in  1909  l  found  in  its  investigation  of  38  great 
industries  that  four-fifths  of  the  operatives  were 
either  foreign-born  or  the  sons  of  foreigners.  The 
proportion  would  probably  be  still  higher  in  1920 
for  it  has  been  since  1909  that  the  heaviest  immigra 
tion  has  come,  displacing  still  further  American  un 
skilled  labor.  Moreover,  it  is  precisely  in  the  essen 
tial  industries  such  as  iron  and  steel,  coal  mining, 
railway  construction,  meat  packing,  and  sugar  refin 
ing,  that  we  find  the  Russian  and  the  Ruthenian 
worker.  Yet  ex-President  Wilson  has  said,  "The 

1  Abstract  of  Beport  of  Immigration  Commission,  VoL  1. 


ISO    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

welfare,  the  happiness,  the  energy  and  spirit  of  the 
men  and  women  who  do  the  daily  work  in  our  mines 
and  factories,  on  our  railroads,  in  our  offices  and 
ports  of  trade,  on  our  farms,  and  on  the  sea,  is  the 
underlying  necessity  of  all  prosperity.  There  can 
be  nothing  wholesome  unless  their  life  is  whole 
some;  there  can  be  no  contentment  unless  they  are 
contented.  Their  physical  welfare  affects  the  sound 
ness  of  the  whole  nation. "  But  it  is  idle  to  pre 
tend  we  have  made  our  foreign  workers  happy  and 
contented,  least  of  all  the  Eussians.  Rabbi  Wise  of 
the  Free  Synagogue  in  New  York  City  says,  "I 
would  have  America  either  shut  foreigners  out  or 
take  them  in,  not  leave  them  dangling  in  spirit  at 
our  doors,  physically  admitted  to,  but  spiritually 
excluded  from,  the  life  of  the  Republic."  The  Rus 
sians  and  Ruthenians  need  the  religious  help  of  the 
church  of  the  friendly  Christ. 

BECOMMENDATIONS 

Cooperation.— The  results  of  our  study  reveal  cer 
tain  concrete  steps  which,  in  my  opinion,  should 
be  taken.  First,  we  should  cooperate  with  the  Rus 
sian  Greek  Orthodox  Church.  We  do  not  want  to 
proselytize.  In  every  community  where  there  is  a 
Greek  Orthodox  Church  our  American  churches 
should  give  every  assistance  that  is  welcome.  This 
can  best  be  done  through  the  Episcopal  Church 
which  has  had  cordial  relations  of  long  standing 
with  the  Orthodox.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to 
confine  such  relationship  to  that  denomination :  any 
other  church  in  the  neighborhood  could  well  do  one 
or  all  of  the  following  friendly  things : 

(a)  Call  on  the  Russian  priest; 

(b)  Donate  Russian  New  Testaments  to  him  for 
distribution ; 


WHAT  OF  IT?  131 

(c)  Send  gifts  to  the  children's  school; 

(d)  Lend  a  stereopticon  or  slides  or  both; 

(e)  Help  in  organizing  a  community  service  cen 
ter  in  their  parish  for  Russians. 

My  experience  with  the  priests  has  convinced  me 
that  many  of  them  would  welcome  cooperation  from 
Protestant  churches.  Indeed  some  of  the  priests 
have  said  that  they  desired  to  be  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  American  churches  but  they  must  wait  for 
them  to  make  the  friendly  advances.  Here  is  a 
chance  for  any  of  our  city  churches,  particularly 
those  located  near  the  Russian  districts,  to  help 
the  foreigners.  Now  is  a  golden  time  to  begin 
these  friendly  relationships  for  the  Russian  Greek 
Orthodox  Church  is  financially  embarrassed,  no 
longer  receiving  support  from  Russia,  and  is  losing 
its  hold  on  its  own  constituency.  The  Independent 
churches  which  have  broken  away  from  the  Greek 
Orthodox  would  be  particularly  glad  to  receive  our 
help.  Because  of  their  activities  in  Russia  and  be 
cause  many  of  the  priests  have  felt  that  the  Bap 
tists  were  taking  away  their  own  members,  it  is 
probably  true  that  that  denomination  would  be  the 
least  successful  in  attempting  such  cooperation. 

For  the  reason  that  the  Uniat  Church  is  under  the 
control  of  Rome  it  is  probable  that  such  cooperation 
could  not  be  as  successfully  established  there  as 
with  the  Russian  Orthodox  Church. 

Russian  community  institutional  church.— In  the 
second  place,  in  every  city  where  there  are  large 
numbers  of  Russians  there  should  be  a  Russian 
community  institutional  church.  This  should  be 
located  in  the  center  of  the  Russian  colony  and 
ideally  should  have  a  definite  educational,  social  and 
religious  program  besides  a  bureau  of  information 
and  advice. 

We  have  seen  that  the  saloon  has  not  yet  been  re- 


132    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

placed  by  any  wholesome  agency.  Today  the  Eus- 
sian's  total  lack  of  a  place  to  meet  his  fellows  so 
cially  is  pathetic.  It  is  small  wonder  that  one  Eus- 
sian  working  thirteen  hours  a  night  hopelessly  ex 
claimed  to  me,  "What  crime  have  I  committed  that 
I  should  be  compelled  to  live  like  this!"  His  life 
had  not  even  the  ray  of  hope  that  a  friendly  social 
agency  brings.  The  community  Church  should  meet 
this  lack.  It  should  have  a  tea  room  where  the  Eus- 
sians  could  come  at  any  time  in  the  afternoon  or 
evening  for  a  social  chat  and  a  glass  of  tea.  Eus- 
sian  communistic  clubs  had  these  facilities  and  they 
were  very  popular.  This  same  tea  room  should  be 
equipped  with  games  such  as  checkers  and  chess, 
and  Eussian  and  English  periodicals  and  papers. 
Where  possible  the  church  should  also  have  a  gym 
nasium  and  shower  baths  with  an  instructor  to  teach 
gymnastic  drill  and  games.  A  doctor  on  part  time, 
at  least,  and  a  visiting  nurse  could  do  a  wonderful 
work,  not  only  in  relieving  suffering  but  in  teach 
ing  prevention  and  the  laws  of  health.  A  moving 
picture  outfit  with  educational  and  recreational 
films  would  be  indispensable.  This  could  show  the 
best  side  of  American  life  to  the  Eussians  as  well 
as  help  to  amuse  and  entertain  them.  For  example, 
American  methods  of  farming,  athletics,  pictures  of 
American  homes,  our  higher  institutions  of  learn 
ing,  historic  buildings,  all  would  be  of  incalculable 
value  in  teaching  him  American  ideals. 

The  children's  work  of  the  church  should  all  be 
coordinated  under  a  paid  director  of  religious  edu 
cation  and  should  include  a  school  of  religion,  boy 
scout  work,  and  various  other  clubs. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Eussians  have  been  ex 
ploited.  They  patronize  fake  doctors,  they  do  not 
always  get  justice  in  our  courts,  they  need  advice 
in  regard  to  flats  and  tenements,  they  often  lose 
money  in  accidents  and  employment,  they  pay  un- 


WHAT  OF  IT?  ISS 

necessary  income  taxes  and  they  need  advice  on  a 
thousand  and  one  matters,  such  as  the  best  banks 
to  deposit  money  in,  passport  difficulties  and  so 
forth.  To  meet  these  needs  such  a  church  should 
have  a  Bureau  of  Information  and  Advice.  This 
should  be  under  a  competent  Eussian,  or  an  Ameri 
can  speaking  the  language. 

The  Eussian  longs  for  education ;  his  own  blunder 
ing  efforts  in  this  direction  have  been  broken  up  and 
prohibited  by  the  police.  The  church  should  have 
a  definite  educational  program  with  English  and 
arithmetic  classes,  practical  courses  in  agriculture, 
automobile-driving  and  manual  training.  There 
should  be  a  library  of  Eussian  and  American  books 
and  lectures  on  hygiene,  American  ideals,  history, 
science,  and  other  subjects. 

Permeating  all  this  work  should  be  the  religious 
motive.  We  cannot  expect  to  win  the  Eussian  for 
Christ  unless  we  care  as  Jesus  cared  for  men.  If 
we  tell  the  Eussian  and  Euthenian  of  Christian 
principles  and  ask  him  to  become  a  follower  of  the 
Master  and  yet  make  no  effort  to  Christianize  the 
environment  in  which  he  works,  how  can  we  expect 
him  to  remain  a  Christian?  The  tragic  truth  is,  as 
we  have  seen,  that  the  Protestant  churches  of  New 
York  City  which  are  working  among  the  Eussians 
have  pitifully  few  active  members.  If,  instead  of  a 
so-called  exclusively  religious  evangelistic  work,  we 
adopt  the  institutional  church  idea  for  the  Eussians, 
we  shall  grip  their  whole  lives.  Eather  than  making 
converts  among  those  who  are  simply  inclined  to  be 
fanatical,  we  shall  make  converts  among  all  types 
of  Eussians  and  we  shall  also  be  making  a  genuine 
attempt  to  be  brothers  to  all.  Such  an  institutional 
church  would  include  all  the  religious  activities  of 
the  evangelistic  church:  preaching,  Bible  classes, 
and  the  rest.  It  should  have  an  American  in  charge 
and  at  least  two  Eussian  assistants. 


1*4    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

The  total  budget  for  such  a  work  would  vary,  of 
course,  with  the  place,  the  extent  of  the  program, 
and  the  number  reached.  Specimen  work,  however, 
could  undoubtedly  be  started,  exclusive  of  original 
equipment,  on  a  minimum  of  $1,000  per  month.  This 
would  pay  for  an  American  minister,  at  a  salary  of 
$250,  and  a  Russian  staff  of  two  men  at  $150  each. 
The  Eussian  People 's  Institute  now  secures  a  build 
ing  in  New  York  City  for  $200  a  month.  This  would 
leave  a  balance  of  $250  a  month  for  other  assistants, 
equipment  and  up-keep. 

It  is  apparent  that  each  individual  denomination 
could  not  afford  to  start  a  large  plant,  perhaps  not 
even  at  the  minimum  figure  suggested  above.  If, 
however,  all  those  denominations  who  are  interested 
in  Eussian  work  would  join  in  such  a  central  com 
munity  institutional  church,  it  could  easily  be  done. 
In  that  case,  the  religious  services  could  all  be  united 
and  carried  on  under  a  single  head  or  they  could 
be  continued  separately  by  the  present  denomina 
tional  method  but  the  social  and  educational  work 
and  information  department  could  be  conducted 
jointly.  In  any  case,  there  should  be  an  interde 
nominational  board  for  Eussian  work  representing 
all  churches  doing  work  in  a  given  city  for  the  Eus- 
sians.  Where  it  was  not  possible  to  unite  on  either 
of  the  above  plans  it  would  still  be  able  to  eliminate 
friction  from  rivalries  and  church  barter  for  Eus 
sian  workers.  At  present  if  they  are  discharged  by 
one  denomination  they  may  be  engaged  at  once  by 
another,  or  if  they  do  not  get  sufficient  salary  with 
one,  may  go  to  another.  Eventually  it  may  even 
prove  possible  for  each  denomination  doing  work 
for  Eussians  to  be  assigned  a  certain  geographical 
district  in  the  United  States  as  is  done  in  the  mis 
sion  field  and  so  make  the  results  more  effective. 

Where  there  are  not  large  Eussian  colonies  it  may 
be  necessary  to  include  other  nationalities  in  this 


WHAT  OF  IT?  135 

plan.  Many  of  them,  no  doubt,  need  help  almost 
as  much  as  the  Russians.  In  the  big  Russian  cen 
ters  such  an  institution  ought  to  be  for  Russians 
alone.  It  could  never  be  so  successful  when  ap 
pealing  to  a  polyglot  of  tongues  and  races  because 
of  the  differences  in  racial  psychology.  The  differ 
ence  is  vividly  brought  home  if  we  think  of  which 
would  make  the  stronger  appeal  to  us  in  Paris,  an 
American  community  church  or  only  a  polyglot  for 
eign  center  with  an  occasional  English  sermon.  Not 
only  should  the  church  adopt  a  consistent,  construc 
tive  program,  but  also  the  government  and  those  in 
dustries  in  which  foreigners  are  employed.  If  the 
church  takes  the  initiative  in  a  broad,  adequate 
movement  for  Russians,  she  will  undoubtedly  stimu 
late  wholesome  changes  in  governmental  and  indus 
trial  activity.  In  any  event,  she  will  act  as  a  clear 
ing  house  for  all  the  work  for  Russians  in  the  city, 
thus  tending  to  coordinate  all  these  agencies. 

The  Ruthenians  do  not  need  help  as  much  as  the 
Russians.  They  attend  their  churches  better,  they 
seem  to  have  more  social  organizations,  and,  since 
Russians  and  Ruthenians  dp  not  mix  well,  where 
possible  the  community  institutional  church  should 
be  wholly  Russian  with  a  separate  Ruthenian  plant. 
Where  this  is  impossible  it  might  be  practicable  to 
have  merely  a  Ruthenian  department. 

Hospitality.— In  the  third  place,  every  Protestant 
American  church  now  located  in  a  Russian  district 
should  not  rest  until  it  has  a  Russian  group  meet 
ing  within  its  doors.  Perhaps  the  easiest  way  to 
accomplish  this  is  to  make  friends  with  the  leaders 
of  the  common  Russian  workmen  in  that  district 
and  offer  to  let  them  use  the  church  rooms  freely. 
They  should  be  permitted  to  organize  themselves  in 
their  own  way,  to  find  out  what  they  need  by  them 
selves  and  do  what  they  wish.  If  they  care  to  have 
lectures  favorable  to  Bolshevism  occasionally  and 


136    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

discussions  on  the  present  conditions  in  Eussia  these 
should  be  permitted  because  only  so  will  they  be 
willing  to  hear  lectures  opposing  Bolshevism.  Gradu 
ally,  as  they  come  to  have  faith  in  the  purpose  of 
the  minister,  they  will  be  glad  to  accept  English 
teachers  and  other  lectures.  Eventually  it  ought  to 
be  possible  to  have  a  paid  Russian  worker  added  to 
the  staff,  and  if  the  experience  of  other  Protestant 
churches  is  worth  anything  some  of  the  Eussians 
will  eventually  join  the  church.  Moreover  such  hos 
pitality  would  unconsciously  tend  to  make  every 
American  church  member  hold  out  a  friendly  hand 
to  the  Eussians  he  met  in  the  common  places  of 
everyday  life.  If  every  church  now  located  in  a 
Eussian  district  would  extend  a  cordial  welcome  to 
their  alien  brothers  in  this  way  it  would  go 
far  toward  Americanizing  and  Christianizing  the 
Eussian. 

Religious  and  secular  literature.— In  the  fourth 
place,  we  need  adequate  religious  and  social  litera 
ture  for  the  Eussians  and  Euthenians  in  their  own 
language.  This  should  be  specially  prepared  for  the 
needs  of  today.  It  should  deal  with  his  experiences 
in  factory,  mill,  and  tenement.  Too  often  we  have 
used  tracts  and  religious  thought-forms  of  a  by 
gone  age.  Jesus  was  constantly  speaking  in  terms 
of  his  own  time.  How  much  could  be  done  if  all  the 
denominations  would  unite  in  printing  joint  Eussian 
Bible  study  books,  a  joint  religious  periodical  and 
general  literature !  This  could  be  prepared  in  Eus 
sian  under  the  supervision  of  an  expert. 

The  trained  expert.— In  the  last  place,  every  de 
nomination  having  extensive  Eussian  work  should 
include  on  its  staff  an  American  having  had  some 
experience  in  Eussia  and  speaking  the  language.  It 
would  be  his  task  to  travel  from  center  to  center 
where  Eussian  colonies  are  to  organize  and  direct 
the  work.  Similar  men  should  do  a  similar  work  for 


WHAT  OF  IT?  137" 

the  Euthenians.  None  of  our  denominations  would 
think  of  trying  to  maintain  missionaries  on  the  for 
eign  field  with  no  training  and  with  no  knowledge  of 
the  language.  Yet  so  often  we  attempt  work  among 
the  Eussians  without  having  even  a  single  Ameri 
can  familiar  with  their  language,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  European  background  and  life  out  of  which  they 
came. 

The  issue.— In  this  study  we  have  seen  something 
of  the  needs  of  the  Euthenians  and  Eussians.  The 
questions  raised  by  Dr.  Coe  in  his  A  Social  Theory 
of  Religion  are  surely  pertinent  here:  "If  one  hu 
man  life  outweighs  a  world,  as  Jesus  taught,  what 
should  we  do  with  a  social  order  that  stunts  multi 
tudes  of  human  lives  for  the  sake  of  money,  and 
does  it,  not  by  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  the  state, 
but  under  the  protection  of  laws  and  courts?  How 
can  we  really  believe  in  human  brotherhood,  if  we 
are  willing  to  acquiesce  in  a  stratification  of  society 
into  the  servers  and  the  served,  the  rulers  and  the 
ruled?"  Burke  says,  "To  make  us  love  our  coun 
try,  our  country  ought  to  be  lovely."  Doubly  true 
it  is,  if  we  would  inspire  in  the  foreigner  this  same 
love. 

We  have  tried  to  outline  a  concrete  program  to 
meet  the  needs  of  our  foreign  brothers.  It  is  not 
complete,  it  is  only  the  first  step,  but  the  needs  call 
loudly  for  action.  The  Eussian  is  only  one  part  of 
the  gigantic  task  before  the  Christian  forces  of 
America  in  the  immigration  problem  alone.  These 
foreigners  come  offering  all  that  they  have, — to  our 
industries,  the  strong  bodily  physique  which  God 
has  given  them;  to  our  communities,  their  inherent 
racial  gifts.  "What  shall  we  offer  in  return?  Shall 
it  be  friendliness  or  indifference?  Whether  they 
shall  be  Bolsheviks  or  Brothers  rests  rather  with  us 
than  with  them. 


Appendix  A 
BIBLIOGEAPHY 

Russia 

GENEBAL  BOOKS 

BAEDEKEB,  KABL — Russia— Scribner,  1914.  The  best 
tourist  guide  to  Eussia. 

BASING,  MAUBICE — Russian  People — Doran,  1911. 

BUBNOFF,  I.  B. — Cooperative  Movement  in  Russia. 
— M.  Fainberg,  N.  Y.,  1917. 

FANNING,  C.  E.— Russia— E.  W.  Wilson  Co.,  1918. 
A  useful  compilation  of  magazine  articles  on 
the  historical,  descriptive  and  political  aspects 
of  Eussia.  It  also  includes  a  good  bibliography. 

GBAHAM,  STEPHEN — The  Way  of  Mary  and  Martha. 
A  popular  sympathetic  treatment  of  the  re 
ligious  side  of  Eussia. 

KOVALEVSKY,  MAXIME — Russian  Political  Institu 
tions — University  of  Chicago  Press,  1902. 

MILYUKOV,  PAUL — Russia  and  its  Crisis — University 
of  Chicago  Press,  1907. 

EAPPOPOBT,  A.  S. — Home  Life  in  Russia — Mac- 
millan,  1913. 

VINOGBADOFF,  PAUL — Self  Government  in  Russia. 
—Button,  1915. 

WALLACE,  D.  M.— Russia— Rolt,  1905.  The  Re 
view  of  Reviews  says,  "It  is  regarded  by  many 
Eussians  as  the  best  work  about  their  country 
ever  written  by  a  foreigner. " 

WALLING,  W.  E.— -Russia's  M essage— Knopf,  1917. 

139 


140    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

WILLIAMS,  H.  W. — Russia  of  the  Russians — Scrib- 
ner,  1914.  One  of  the  best  brief  books  on  Russia. 

U.  S.  DEFT.  OF  COMMERCE  (Special  Consular  Eeport 
No.  61) — Russia:  a  handbook  on  commercial 
and  industrial  conditions  by  J.  H.  Snodgrass, 
1913. 

RUSSIAN  HISTORY 

BEAZLEY,  FORBES,  AND  BIRKETT  —  Russia  —  Oxford 
Press,  1918. 

HOWE,  S.  E. — A  Thousand  Years  of  Russian  His 
tory. 

KLUCHEVSKY,  V.  0. — History  of  Russia — 3  vols. 
Dutton.  Probably  the  best  and  most  authorita 
tive  Eussian  history. 

KORNILOV,  ALEKSANDER — Modern  Russian  History — 
Knopf,  1917. 

SACK,  A.  J. — The  Birth  of  the  Russian  Democracy — 
1920.  The  Eussian  Information  Bureau.  Traces 
the  revolutionary  movement  in  Eussia  down  to 
the  present  time. 

THE  RUSSIAN  CHURCH 

EEV.  E.  W.  BLACKMORE,  Translated  by  the — The 
Doctrine  of  the  Russian  Church — Joseph  Mas 
ters  &  Co.,  78  New  Bond  St.,  London. 

BEAULIEU,  LEROY — The  Empire  of  the  Tsars  and  the 
Russians — Vol.  Ill,  Putnam,  1896.  Although 
old  it  is  probably  the  best  book  on  the  religious 
movement  in  Eussia. 

LACEY,  T.  J. — A  Study  of  the  Eastern  Orthodox 
Church— -New  Edition,  1912. 

MOURAVIEFF'S — History  of  the  Russian  Church. 

STANLEY,  DEAN — The  Eastern  Church — Everyman's 
Edition. 

HAPGOOD,  I.  F. — Service  Book  of  the  Holy  Orthodox- 
Catholic  Apostolic  Church — Houghton  Mifflin  & 
Co.,  1906  (at  present  out  of  print). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  141 

RUSSIAN   LITERATURE 

BARING,  MAURICE — Landmarks  in  Russian  Litera 
ture — Macmillan,  1910. 

BRUCKNER,  A. — Literary  History  of  Russia — Scrib- 
ner,  1908. 

HAPGOOD,  ISABEL  F. — Survey  of  Russian  Literature, 
with  Selections— 1902. 

KROPOTKIN,  PETER — Ideals  and  Realities  in  Russian 
Literature — Knopf,  1915. 

PHELPS,  W.  L. — Essays  on  Russian  Novelists — Mac 
millan,  1911. 

WIENER,  LEO — Anthology  of  Russian  Literature — 2 
vols.  Putnam,  1903. 

RUSSIAN  ART  AND  MUSIC 

BENOIS,  ALEXANDRE — Russian  School  of  Painting — 
Knopf,  1916. 

HOLME,  CHARLES — Peasant  Art  in  Russia — Lane, 
1912. 

MONTAGU,  NATHAN  M. — Contemporary  Russian  Com 
posers — Stokes,  1917.  Also  History  of  Russian 
Music — Scribner,  1914. 

NEWMARCH,  ROSA  —  Russian  Arts  —  Dutton,  1916. 
Also  Russian  Opera — Dutton,  1914. 

SAYLER,  OLIVER  M. — The  Russian  Theatre — 1919. 

IMMIGRATION:  GENERAL 

ADDAMS,  JANE — Twenty  Tears  at  Hull  House — Mac 
millan,  1910. 

COMMONS,  J.  E. — Races  and  Immigrants  in  America 
—Macmillan,  1908. 

DAVIS,  PHILIP — Immigration  and  Americanization — 
Ginn,  1920. 

FAIRCHILD,  HENRY  PRATT — Immigration — Macmil 
lan,  1914.  One  of  the  best  standard  books. 

JENKS  AND  LAUCK — The  Immigration  Problem — 
Funk  &  Wagnalls— 1911,  and  revised  1917. 


142    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

Based  very  largely  on  the  Keport  of  the  Immi 
gration  Commission  of  1910.  An  excellent 
book. 

HOURWICH,  ISAAC  A. — Immigration  and  Labor — G. 
P.  Putnam  Sons,  1912.  Largely  statistics.  Op 
poses  restriction  of  immigration. 

KELLER,  FRANCES  A. — Straight  America — Macmil- 
lan,  1916. 

EGBERTS,  PETER — The  New  Immigration — Macmil- 
lan,  1912. 

Boss,  E.  A.— The  Old  World  in  the  New— Century 
Co.,  1914. 

STEINER,  E.  A. — Immigrant  Tide — Revell,  1909. 

WARNE,  FRANK  J. — The  Tide  of  Immigration — Ap- 
pleton,  1916. 

IMMIGRATION  :    RELIGIOUS  ASPECTS 

BROOKS,  C.  A. — Christian  Americanization — 1919. 
Missionary  Education  Movement. 

GROSE,  H.  B. — Aliens  or  Americans — 1912.  Mission 
ary  Education  Movement. 

SHRIVER,  W.  P. — Immigrant  Forces — 1913.  Mis 
sionary  Education  Movement,  New  York. 

McCLURE,  ARCHIBALD — Leadership  of  the  New 
America— 1917.  Doran,  New  York. 

MARY  CLARKE  BARNES  and  LEMUEL  CALL  BARNES—^ 
The  New  America — 1913.  Revell,  New  York. 

STEINER,  E.  A. — On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant — 
1906.  Eevell,  New  York. 

THE  RUSSIANS  IN  AMERICA 

AINSWORTH,  F.  H. — Are  We  Shouldering  Europe's 

Burden?  (Charities),  Feb.  6, 1904,  v.  12,  pp.  134- 

135. 
BALCH,  EMILY  G. — Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  New 

York  Charities  Publication  Commission,  1910. 
BOAS,  FRANZ — Race  Problem  in  America  (Science — 

1909,  v.  29,  pp.  839-49). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  143 

BOECKH,  EICHAED — The  Determination  of  Racial 
Stock  among  American  Immigrants  (American 
Statistical  Association  Quarterly  Publication, 
Dec.,  1906,  pp.  199-221). 

BYINGTON,  MAKGAKET  F. — Homestead;  The  House 
holds  of  the  Milltown,  1910,  292  pp. 
An  intensive  study  of  90  households  in  Home 
stead  nearly  one-third  of  which  were  Slavic.  In 
1907  when  the  mill  of  the  U.  S.  Steel  Corpora 
tion  was  running  at  full  capacity  53.2%  of  em 
ployees  were  Slavic. 

California  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Hous 
ing,  Report  of  Fresno's  Immigration  Problem, 
State  Printing  Office,  Sacramento,  1917. 

California  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Hous- 
ing,  Report  on  an  Experiment  in  Los  Angeles 
in  summer  of  1917  for  Americanization  of  For 
eign-born  Women,  State  Printing  Office,  Sacra 
mento,  1917. 

CANE,  ALEXANDEB  E. — Slav  Farmers  on  the  "Aban 
doned  Farm"  Area  of  Conn.,  Survey,  Oct.  7, 
1911. 

CLAGHORN — Immigration  in  its  Relation  to  Pauper 
ism  (annals  of  the  American  Academy,  July, 
1904,  v.  24,  pp.  207-20).  Our  Immigrants  and 
Ourselves  (Atlantic,  1900,  y.  36,  pp.  535-48). 

COMMONS,  J.  E. — Race  Composition  of  the  American 
People  (Chautauquan,  September,  1903-May, 
1904). 

COMMONS,  J.  E. — Slavs  in  the  Bituminous  Mines  of 
Illinois  (Charities),  Dec.  3,  1904,  v.  13,  pp.  227- 
29;  (also)  Industrial  Commission,  v.  15,  pp.  293- 
743,  1901. 

COMMONS,  J.  E. — Wage  Earners  of  Pittsburg  (Chari 
ties,  March  6,  1909,  v.  21,  pp.  1051-64). 

ELKINGTAR,  JOSEPH — The  Doukhobors;  their  Char 
acter  and  Economic  Principles  (Charities,  1904, 
v.  13,  pp.  252-56). 


144    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

DIMOCK,  LEILA  ALLEN — Comrades  from  Other 
Lands  (Subject:  Slavs  in  Industry),  Eevell 
Co.,  1913. 

FITCH,  JOHN  A. — The  Steel  Workers,  Pittsburgh 
Survey,  1910. 

FLEMING,  W.  L. — Immigration  to  the  Southern- 
States  (Pol.  Science  Quarterly,  1905,  v.  20,  pp. 
276-97). 

FOSTEK,  MAXIMILIAN  —  The  Citizen  (Everybody's. 
Nov.,  1909). 

GROSE,  HOWAED  B. — The  Incoming  Millions,  1906. 
(The  Slavs  are  treated  separately  in  the  chap 
ter  on  "The  Immigrants  in  Their  New  Home.") 

HENRY,  JOHN  E. — Some  Immigrant  Neighbors  (Sub 
ject:  Our  Eussian  Neighbor),  Eevell  Co.,  1912. 

HODGES,  LE  EOY — Slavs  on  Southern  Farms,  Sen. 
Doc.  595,  U.  S.  63  Cong.  2  Sess.,  Wash.  Gov. 
Printing  Office,  1914. 

HRDLICKA,  ALES — The  Slavs  (Czecho-Slovak  Ee- 
view,  Nov.,  1918,  v.  2,  pp.  180-87). 

KELLOGG,  PAUL  W. — The  McKee's  Rocks  Strike 
(Survey,  Aug.  7, 1909,  v.  22,  pp.  656-66),  Protec 
tion  of  Immigrant  Women  (Atlantic,  1908,  v. 
101,  pp.  246-55). 

LEE,  JOSEPH — Assimilation  and  Nationality  (Chari 
ties,  1908,  v.  19,  pp.  1453-55). 

LLOYD,  J.  A.  T. — Teuton  versus  Slav  (Fortnightly 
Eeview,  May  1, 1916,  New  Series,  v.  99,  pp.  883- 
93). 

LOVE  JOY,  OWEN  E. — The  Slav  Child:  A  National 
Asset  or  a  Liability  (Charities,  July,  1905,  pp. 
882-84). 

McCLURE,  ARCHIBALD — Leadership  of  the  New 
America,  Eacial  and  Eeligious  (Part  II,  Immi 
grant  Leadership  among  the  Slavic  European 
Nationalities),  Doran,  N.  Y.,  1916. 

MCLAUGHLIN,  ALLAN — The  Slavic  Immigrant  (Pop 
ular  Science  Monthly,  May,  1903). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  145 

MAYO-SMITH,  RICHMOND — Theories  of  Mixtures  of 
Races  and  Nationalities  (Yale  Rev.,  v.  3). 

MILLER,  H.  A.  (Survey,  June  15,  1919,  v.  40,  pp.  307- 
09). 

NORTON,  ELLIOTT  S. — The  Need  of  a  General  Plan 
for  Settling  Immigrants  Outside  the  Great 
Cities  (Charities,  Feb.  6,  1904,  pp.  152-54). 

PARKER,  E.  H. — Russians  in  Business,  Chamber's 
JL,  Feb.,  1915,  pp.  103-06.  (Their  unbusiness 
like  methods.) 

PRUGAVIN,  ALEKSANDER  STEPANOVICH — Several  Pam 
phlets  in  Russian  on  Russian  Religious  Sects  in 
N.  Y.  Public  Library. 

PRUGAVIN,  A.  S. — Die  Inquisition  der  Russisch-Or- 
thodoxen  Kirche.  Die  Klostergefangnisse. 
Berlin.  F.  Gottheiner,  1905,  124  pp. 

RIPLEY,  WM.  Z. — Race  Factors  in  Labor  Unions 
(Atlantic,  1904,  pp.  299-308).  Races  in  the 
United  States,  1908,  102  pp. 

ROBERTS,  PETER — Immigrant  Races  in  North  Amer 
ica,  1912. 

.    The  New  Immigration,  1913. 

Ross,  E.  A.— "The  Slavs, "  Chap.  6  of  The  Old 
World  in  the  New,  1914,  p.  327^ 

Russians  in  America  (Literary  Digest,  Nov.  29, 
1919,  p.  41). 

SAYLES,  MARY  BUELL — Housing  and  Social  Condi 
tions  in  a  Slavic  Neighborhood  (Charities,  Dec. 
3,  1904,  pp.  257-61). 

SHERIDAN,  FRANK  J. — Italian,  Slavic,  and  Hun 
garian  Unskilled  Immigrant  Laborers  in  the 
United  States  (U.  S.  Labor  Bulletin,  No.  72, 
1907). 

Slavic  Alliance  in  Cleveland.    Cleveland,  1904. 
(In  Russian.) 

SMITH,  ROBERT  K. — The  People  of  the  Eastern 
Orthodox  Churches,  Springfield,  Mass.,  1913,  p. 
20. 


146    RUSSIANS  AND  RUTHENIANS  IN  AMERICA 

SMITH,  EUFUS  D. — Some  Phases  of  the  McKee's 
Rocks  Strike  (Survey,  Oct.,  1909,  pp.  30-35). 

SOKALOFF,  ALEXIS — Medieval  Russia  (Pittsburgh 
Survey). 

SOKALOFF,  A. — Old  Believers  (Survey,  Nov.,  1914,  v. 
33,  pp.  145-50). 

SOKALOFF,  LILLIAN — Russians  in  Los  Angeles.  Uni 
versity  of  Southern  California,  March,  1918,  p. 
16 — Soc.  Monograph,  No.  17. 

STEINEB,  EDWAKD  A. — From  the  Lovczin  to  Guinea 
Hill  (Outlook,  May,  1908). 

STEINEB,  E.  A.— The  Broken  Wall  (Subject:  A 
Slavic  Oklahoman),  Eevell  Co.,  1911,  N.  Y.  and 
Chicago. 

TOWNLEY,  FULLAM  C. — Pan-Slavism  in  America 
(Forum,  Aug.,  1914,  pp.  177-85). 

TOYNBEE,  A.  J. — The  Slav  Peoples,  Polish  Quarterly, 
Dec.,  1914,  pp.  33-68. 

United  for  Freedom  at  Home  (Survey,  June,  1908, 
p.  292). 

VAN  KLEACK,  M. — Russians  in  the  Flower  Trade, 
N.  Y.  Survey  Association,  1913. 

WABNE,  F.  3.— The  Coal  Mine  Workers,  1905;  The 
Slav  Invasion  and  Mine  Workers,  1904. 

WABNE,  FBANK  J. — Immigrant  Invasions,  Chap.  Ill, 
Invasion  of  Slavs  and  Italians ;  Chap.  VI,  Some 
Economic  Characteristics  of  the  Immigrants; 
Chap.  VIII,  Standards  of  Living,  part  Slavs 
and  Italian.  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  1913. 

WING,  M.  T.  C.—The  Flag  at  McKee's  Rocks  (Sur 
vey,  Oct.,  1909,  pp.  45-46). 

WOOLSTON,  FLOBENCE — Slavs  in  the  U.  S.  (Technical 
World,  Oct.,  1911,  pp.  135-44). 

WRIGHT,  CABBOLL  D. — Influence  of  Trade  Unions  on 
Immigrants  (Bulletin  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Labor,  1905,  No.  56,  pp.  1-8). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  147 

IMMIGRANTS  IN  INDUSTRIES  (Subject:  Slavs  in  U.  S.), 
Wash.  Gov.  Print.  Office,  1911;  61  Cong.,  2  Sess., 
Sen.  Doc.,  y.  68-85. 

Russians  in  United  States  (also  Slavs),  U.  S.  Immi 
gration  Commission,  v.  5 ;  Dictionary  of  Races 
and  Peoples,  61 :3d.,  v.  9,  pp.  111-18. 

Slavs  in  United  Statesf  U.  S.  Immigration  Commis 
sion,  61st  Cong.,  3  Sess.,  Sen.  Doc.,  v.  7. 


Appendix  B 
THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES 

FOREIGN  LANGUAGE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES  AND  OTHER 
INSTITUTIONS  TRAINING  RUSSIAN  STUDENTS  FOR  THE 
MINISTRY  AND  OTHER  CHURCH  WORK. 

BALDWIN-WALLACE  COLLEGE  (Slavic  Dept.),  Berea,0. 

BERKELEY  BAPTIST  DIVINITY  SCHOOL,  Berkeley,  Cal. 

BLOOMFIELD  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  Bloomfield, 
N.  J. 

BROADVIEW  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  La  Grange,  111. 

CHRISTIAN  BIBLE  COLLEGE,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

CROZER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  Upland,  Pa. 

DUBUQUE  COLLEGE  AND  SEMINARY,  Dubuque,  la. 

EUGENE  BIBLE  UNIVERSITY,  Eugene,  Ore. 

FISK  HALL  (Non-denominational),  Chicago,  111. 

INTERNATIONAL  BAPTIST  SEMINARY,  E.  Orange,  N.  J. 

INTERNATIONAL  Y.  M.  C.  A.  COLLEGE,  Springfield, 
Mass. 

MISSION  HOUSE  SCHOOL,  Plymouth,  Wis. 

MOODY  BIBLE  INSTITUTE,  Chicago,  111. 

NEWTON  THEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTE,  Newton  Center, 
Mass. 

NORTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  Louis 
ville,  Ky. 

EUSSIAN  BIBLE  INSTITUTE,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

RUSSIAN  ORTHODOX  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  Tenafly, 
N.  J. 

SOUTHWESTERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY, 
Fort  Worth,  Tex. 


148 


Appendix  C 

BELIGIOUS  PERIODICALS:  EUSSIAN  AND 
UKEANIAN 

EUSSIAN 

Amerikansky  Russky  Viestnik,  weekly,  Thurs.,  Gk. 
Cath.  Union,  Homestead,  Pa. 

Golos  Tzerkvy  (Voice  of  the  Church),  bi-weekly; 
EEV.  PIOTEOWSKY,  Editor,  628  Grant  St.,  Pitts 
burgh,  Pa. 

Key  to  the  Truth,  monthly,  Bible  and  Tract  Society, 
13-17  Hicks  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Nedelye,  F.  N.  BAEKETAFF,  Editor,  Eussian  Ortho 
dox  Clerical  League,  347  E.  14th  St. 

Norodny  Poychenia  (issued  irreg.),  Bible  and  Tract 
Society,  13-17  Hicks  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Pravda  (Truth),  Semi-Weekly,  E.  K.  HOYNIAK, 
Editor,  213  N.  Willow  St.,  Olyphant,  Pa. 

Russbrlhodoy  (Voice  of  the  Church),  EEV.  S.  BA- 
ZELEVICH,  Editor,  International  Printing  Co., 
628  Grant  St.,  N.  Y.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

The  Friend  of  Russia  and  Revivalist,  WILLIAM  FET- 
LEE,  Editor,  1844  W.  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111. 

The  Sower  of  Truth,  Monthly,  J.  DAVIDUK,  Editor, 
1014  Main  St.,  Hartford,  Conn.— "A  Eeligious 
Union  Christian  Monthly." 

UKEANIAN 

Prawda,  Bloomfield  Seminary,  Bloomfield,  N.  J. 

Prosvita  (Greek  Catholic)  (Enlightenment),  Pros- 
vita  Pub.  Co.,  McKeesport,  Pa. 

Ranok  (Morning),  Weekly  (Presby.),  Union  Press, 
Winnipeg,  Can. 

So  jus   (Union),  Weekly   (Thurs.),  1001  Manufac 
turers  Bldg.,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
149 


INDEX 


Accidents  in  industry,  107. 

Addams,  Jane  quoted,  IX,  65. 

Advertisements  intended  for  im 
migrants,  114. 

America  needs  the  Russian  and 
Euthenian,  129,  130. 

American  leadership  imperative, 
102,  103. 

American  mind,  learning,  71. 

American  people,  relations  with, 
Chap.  VII,  104-126. 

Americanizing  influences,  102, 
105. 

Americanization  in  the  public 
schools,  59;  the  parochial 
schools  a  force  against,  60; 
Eussian  newspapers,  a  force 
for  or  against,  64;  parade  on 
July  4,  1918,  129;  real,  105. 

Anderson,  Harvey,  quoted,  66, 
106. 

Anderson,  Judge  quoted,  121. 

Arizona  laws,   119. 

Arresting  Eussians  and  Euthe- 
nians  during  strikes,  120-121; 
for  political  offenses,  121-124. 

Assimilation:  agencies  in,  68-74, 
128. 


Baptists  in  Eussia,  81;  in  Amer 
ica  (Eussians),  84;  Euthe- 
nians,  84. 

Banks  for  the  immigrant,  113. 

Bolsheviks  and  Bolshevism:  49, 
65;  all  Eussians  treated  as,  73, 
97,  109,  120;  individual  in 
stances,  122,  123. 

Budget  for  community  church, 
134. 

Bull,  Magnus  Dominus,  75. 

Burke  quoted,  137. 

151 


California  laws,  119;  immigra 
tion  commission,  68. 

Carnegie  foundation  bulletin 
quoted,  119-120. 

Children's  work,  31,  32. 

Chicago,  annual  report  police  de 
partment  1919,  50;  report  of 
Chicago  City  Council  Commit 
tee  on  Crime  1915,  50. 

Church  of  Christ  in  America 
(Eussian),  84. 

Church  a  force  in  racial  assim 
ilation  and  national  unifica 
tion,  128. 

Coe,  G.  A.   quoted,   137. 

Cole,  G.  S.,  Chicago  study  of 
1019,  10,  33,  35,  36,  37,  43, 
70,  71. 

Communist  clubs,  54,  61,  65. 

Communist  and  Cooperative  ex 
periments,  82. 

Constructive  social  forces,  56. 

Cooperation  with  the  Greek  Or 
thodox  Church,  131-132. 

Connecticut  laws,  119. 

Creel,  George,  quoted,  67. 

Criminal  statistics,  49. 

Davis,  Michael,  health  standards 

quoted  on  housing,  41,  112. 
Davis,   Philip:    immigration  and 

Americanization,  56. 
Denominationalism,  101. 
Denominational  foreign  language 

training  schools,  99,  100. 
Detroit,  prisoners  visited  in,  125; 

Ford   employees'   housing,   39, 

40. 
Devine,  Dr.  Edward  T.,  Family 

and  Social  Work  quoted,  32. 
Disciples  of  Christ   (Eussian)  in 

America,  84,  85. 


152 


INDEX 


Economic    conditions,    Chap.    II, 

27-38. 

Educational  forces,  Chap.  IV,  58. 
Ellis  Island,  104,  105,  107,  125. 
European  background,  19. 
Evangelism,   86. 
Exorbitant  costs — food,  34. 
Exploitation,  105,  113,'  114,  115, 

132. 

"Fact  of  God,"  the,  89-90. 

Faiths,  old-country  faiths  and 
churches  retained,  75-79. 

Family  groups,  24. 

Family  life,  46,  47. 

Fanatical  sects,  82,  87. 

Fanatical  tone  of  Russian  re 
ligious  periodicals,  88. 

First  impressions  of  the  immi 
grant,  104. 

Food,  typical  fare  of  the  Rus 
sian  workman,  35,  43. 

Forces,  destructive  social,  54. 

Ford  plant,  statistics  of  welfare 
department,  39,  40. 

Foreign-  and  native-born  occu 
pations,  27-28. 

Foreign  language  governmental 
information  bureau,  61,  66, 
116;  training  schools,  99-102; 
used  in  training,  99;  churches, 
future  of,  127. 

Governmental    authorities,    rela 
tions  with,  119,  121,  122. 
Greek  Catholic  church,  75. 

Hayden,  Rev.  Joel  B.,  98. 
Health,  42. 
Hecker,  Dr.,  94. 
Hourvich,  Dr.,  quoted,  21. 
Hospitality     in     Protestant 

churches,  135-136. 
Housing,  39-42. 
Howe,  F.  C.  quoted,  107. 

Idaho  laws,  119. 

Ikon,  78. 

Illinois:   Russians  in,  laws,  119. 

Immigration,  Chap.  I,  21,  22;  a 

lull  in,  127. 
Income  tax,  116-118. 
Industrial  relations,  20,  106-111. 


Indiana  laws,  119. 

Iowa  laws,  119. 

Industries,     in     which     Russians 

and  Ruthenians  are  found,  27- 

28-29 ;      need      Russians      and 

Ruthenians,   129. 
Information,  bureau  of,  in  Com 
munity  Church,  131,  133. 
Institutional  church,  85;  Russian 

Community      Institutional 

church,  131-135. 
Interdenominational     Foreign 

Language  Training  school,  100- 

101. 
International   Baptist    Seminary, 

100;  efforts,  100,  134. 
Inter-Racial  Council,  21,  23,  64. 
Isolation    of    Russian    students, 

100. 
"Ivan,"  case  of,  30-31. 

Jenks  and  Lauck  quoted,  128. 

Jews,  20,  47-48,  51,  52,  55,  88, 
112. 

"Justice  and  the  Poor,"  bulle 
tin  of  Carnegie  Foundation, 
119-120. 

Kane,    Francis    Fisher,    quoted, 

122. 

Kansas  laws,  119. 
Kinsmen  trained  in  America,  94- 

95;     trained    in    their    native 

land,  93-94. 
Kentucky  laws,  119. 

Labor  unions,  a  force  in  assim 
ilation,  68. 
Lawrence,     Mass.,     incident     in, 

120;   conditions  during  strike, 

120-121. 

Laws  against  foreigners,  118-119. 
Leadership,  64-65. 
Learning  the  American  mind,  71. 
Letters  from  Russians,  73. 
Libraries,  their  use  by  Russians, 

60. 
Literacy    among    Russians    and 

Ruthenians,  69,  70. 
Literature    and   newspapers,    60- 

64;  religious,  88;  general,  88, 

92;  needed,  136. 
Los  Angeles,  39. 


INDEX 


153 


Maryland  laws,  118,  119. 

Means  of  livelihood,  27. 

Method  of  investigation,  IX-XI. 

M.  E.  Church  (Eussian)  in 
America,  84,  86. 

Mennonites  (Russian)  in  Amer 
ica,  101. 

Methodists  in  Russia,  81. 

Michigan  laws,  118. 

Migrations  in  the  United  States, 
24. 

Miller,  Rev.  Kenneth  D.,  98. 

Minister  of  Kin,  87. 

Minnesota  laws,  119. 

Missouri  laws,  119. 

Missionary  work  in  Russia,  81. 

Monotony  of  labor,  24,  31,  47. 

Montana  laws,  119. 

Moral  standards,  49-50. 

Moving  pictures,  44. 

Naturalization,  71. 

Nebraska  laws,  119. 

Neighborhood  life,  47-48. 

New  England  Russian  popula 
tion,  22. 

New  Hampshire   laws,  118,   119. 

New  Jersey  laws,  118. 

New  Mexico  laws,  119. 

New  York:  laws,  118:  Russians 
in,  22. 

Newspapers,  Russian,  61;  quota 
tions  from,  62-64. 

Nicholas,  Bishop,  quoted,  78. 

North  Dakota,  29,  30,  48. 

Novi  Mir  suppressed,  61;  quota 
tion,  62. 

Number  of  Russians  in  America, 
20-24. 

Number  of  Russian  and  Ruthe- 
nian  workers  in  different  indus 
tries  in  the  United  States,  27- 
28. 

Ohio,  Russians  in,  22:   colonies, 

30. 

Oklahoma  laws,  119. 
Old  believers,  80. 
Omelchenko,  E.  I.,  quoted,  21. 
Oregon  laws,  118,  119. 
Overcrowding,  35. 
Owners  of  homes,  39. 


Pennsylvania:  laws,  119;  Rus 
sians  in,  22. 

Periodicals,  religious.  See  Ap 
pendix. 

Petrunkevich,  A.,  quoted,  68,  70. 

Philadelphia,  98. 

Pittsburgh:  housing,  40-42;  pris 
oners  visited  in,  125-126; 
Americanization  work  in,  66; 
wages  in,  33. 

Polyglot  Community  church,  133- 
135;  Training  schools,  101-103. 

Pound,  Dean  Roscoe,  and  report 
of  twelve  eminent  lawyers,  122. 

Presbyterian  church  (Russian 
and  Ruthenian)  in  America,  84. 

Press,  secular,  88;  religious,  88- 
89. 

Producers  in  the  family,  36. 

Progress  in  Protestant  work  since 
1916,  84. 

Prohibition  amendment,  effect  of, 
44. 

Protestant  church  affiliation,  84. 

Protestant  Episcopal  church 
(Russian  and  Ruthenian)  in 
America,  84. 

Protestant  work  done,  94,  95. 

Proverbs,  Russian,  77. 

Racial  prepossessions,  53. 
Rauschenbush,    Social    Teachings 

of  Jesus,  91. 

Recommendations,  130-137. 
Relation  to  the  old  country,  50; 

to  other  racial  groups,  50. 
Relations     with     the     American 

people,  Chap.  VII,  104-126. 
Religious  approach,  forms  of,  85- 

87. 
Religious     break-up,     forms    of, 

78-83. 
Religious    Conditions,    Chap.    V, 

75-92. 
Religious  nature  of  the  Russian 

people,  76-78. 
Religious  press,  88. 
Religious     realignments,     forms 

of,  84. 

Bents,  33,  34,  40. 
Return  movement,  25,  26. 
Bhode  Island  laws,  119. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  quoted,  108. 


154 


INDEX 


Eussian  Bible  and  Educational 
Institute,  93. 

Bussian  and  Euthenian  defined. 
19,  20. 

Eussians  and  Euthenians  in  the 
U.  S.,  22,  23. 

Eussian  and  Euthenian  children 
in  the  public  schools,  58-59. 

Eussian  Collegiate  Institute  in 
New  York  City,  68. 

Eussian  Educational  clubs  and 
reading  rooms,  56. 

Busski  Golos,  61,  quoted,  62. 

Susski  Slovo,  61,  quoted,  36.  63. 
64,  118. 

Eussian  Greek  Orthodox  church, 
56,  59,  60,  75-83,  103,  131;  fu 
ture  of,  127;  cooperation  with, 
94,  130,  131;  growth  of  the 
democratic  spirit,  83;  question 
able  methods,  115;  split  in 
America,  78,  82;  training 
priests  in  America,  94;  Eus 
sian  priests  needing  sympa 
thetic  help,  104. 

Eussian  People's  University,  69. 

Euthenians  in  U.  S.,  number  of, 
24. 

Euthenians,  distribution  of,  23. 


Salaries  of  Eussian  pastors,  95. 

Saloon,  44,  55. 

Savings,  36,  37. 

Schools:  the  public,  58;  paro 
chial,  59. 

Schismatics  and  sectarians,  80-83. 

Sears,  Dr.  Charles  H.,  on  Bap 
tist  work  in  America,  85. 

Secular  press,  88. 

Seminary,  Baldwin- Wallace,  100. 

Services  held  in  the  Eussian, 
Euthenian  and  Slav  languages, 

Seventh  Day  Adventists  (Eus 
sian)  in  America,  84. 

Shriver  'a  Immigrant  Forces 
quoted,  97,  99. 

Single  men  (migrations),  24,  34. 

Social  conditions,  Chap.  Ill,  39- 
57. 

Social  and  industrial  training  of 
leaders,  91,  95. 

Social  needs,  137. 


Social  organizations  and  forces. 

54-57. 

Social  relations,  112. 
Social  settlement,  85. 
Sokaloff,  Lillian,  "The  Eussians 

in  Los  Angeles, "  39. 
Soldiers,  treatment  of,  after  the 

war,  72. 
Soldiers'    wages     (Eussian)     in 

late  war,  19. 

Standards  of  living,  33-35. 
Steiner,  E.  C.,  quoted,  55. 
Steel  strike,  109,  110. 
Stundists,  29-30,  81. 

Tennessee  laws,  118. 

Texas  laws,  119. 

Theological  seminaries,  100. 

Tolstoy,  Count,  79,  81. 

Training  of  foreign-born  Eus 
sian  ministers,  94,  99. 

Tracts,  89-92 ;  recommendations 
for,  90-91. 

TJniat  church,  75,  128,  131. 

United  States  census,  20;  census 
of  religious  bodies,  1916,  84, 
128 ;  immigration  commission, 
27,  28,  29,  32,  33,  35,  39,  49,  58, 
59,  67,  69,  71;  labor  depart 
ment,  33. 

Unrest,  37. 

Use  of  languages,  69-70. 

Use  of  racial  sentiment,  70. 

Vilchur,    M.,    The    Russians    in 

America,  quoted,  22,  36. 
Virginia  colonies,  29. 

Wages,  32-33. 

War     service,    results    reflected 

from,  72. 

Washington  laws,  119. 
What  of  it?    Chap.   VIII,   127- 

137. 
Williams,       Whiting,       incident 

from,  108. 
Wilson,    President,    quoted,    38, 

130. 

Women  social  workers,  98. 
Woods,  Arthur,  quoted,  121. 
Wyoming  laws,  119. 


INDEX  155 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associa-  Young     Men's     and     Women's 

tion    66.  Christian    Associations,    forces 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associa-  in  assimilation,  66. 

tion    literature    for    Bussians,  Young  Women's  Christian 

91   92.  ciation,  66,  ye. 


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